All the way from Estonia: Here comes a software that’s crafted to support nearly all aspects of education

Twenty schools in Kenya have adopted an innovative school management system called eKool, and are reaping the benefits of using the software.  

Developed in Estonia in northern Europe, eKool (meaning electronic school) was launched in Kenya last April, and has since been embraced by public and private schools in Migori, Mombasa, Kisii, and Nairobi counties. More schools are expected to sign up to this platform that digitises school operations.

According to eKool Chief Executive Tanel Keres, the company is spearheading the digitisation of education services in Africa because it is the right time to share ideas and experiences from the last 20 years of work in Europe.

“eKool will be a tool for reducing inequality significantly, as it can facilitate reaching even the most marginalised and vulnerable learners,” says Mr Keres.

Other than in Kenya, schools in Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, and Namibia, have started to use eKool. The system is compatible with the requirements of the national education system in the respective countries, including the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) in Kenya and the IGCSE.

Wherever it is used, eKool gains the reputation of driving productivity, effectiveness, and efficiency of operations. It has been instrumental in helping Estonia to become one of the best in the world, in education.

Based on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test, conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Estonia ranks Number One in Maths in Europe and eighth worldwide; Number One in Natural Sciences in Europe and fourth worldwide, and Number One in Reading in Europe and fifth worldwide.

Pristone Isiye, eKool Kenya Senior Technical Support Specialist, notes that for schools that are already using this platform, the automation has reduced paperwork, eased the work of running the academic activities, and helped learners understand their strengths and weaknesses. “We all know that digitalisation does not eliminate the face-to-face learning that is traditional to many educational institutions. It is a way of easing the dissemination of knowledge, skills, and values to learners, with the best results possible. And that is what eKool offers to the people in Africa,” he says.

Daniel, a teacher, agrees: “My experience with eKool has been a great one. This system has enabled me as a teacher to enter grades with so much ease, and track attendance of lessons. I have also been able to write the schemes of work on my teacher's account, which I share with any school I’m working with. The issue of who steps in for me in my absence has been well resolved by the system.”

eKoolAfrican Lead Regional Manager, George Omollo, says that the system is quickly getting penetration of its usage among many private and public schools in Kenya and other countries in the continent. The services offered by eKool encompass the digital transformation of schools in Africa and the rest of the world.

Through its unique features, eKool is a world-class technology that provides fair and equal access across all socio-economic groups and territories, with a primary objective on individual and personalised education outcomes. 

Dennis Moogi, a special needs education specialist and education technology (EdTech) entrepreneur, observes that for teachers struggling to prepare individualised education plans (IEP) for learners with disabilities, eKool’s student development module makes it easy to prepare them in collaboration with the student’s parents. 

The eKool platform provides school principals, head teachers, and administrators with the most accurate information to help them make more effective decisions related to school management. Teachers and students interact in real-time and at all times (in and out of school) on matters pertaining to teaching and learning, without hindrances and delays, courtesy of the eKool platform.

A student, Mary Kattee, testifies that the system has helped her organise her work better. She says eKool communicates in real-time with the school’s educational programme, therefore providing contemporaneous feedback regarding one’s performance.

In addition, embodiments of the systems and methods evaluate and provide feedback on the effectiveness of the educational programme itself, and track teaching and learning progress at different levels and time periods. Further, has the capability to perform comprehensive data analysis and statistical computations.

Innovative school management system

Thus, eKool is a comprehensive school management system with valuable features that help streamline and manage an educational organisation. The web-based system has the capability to support the management of diverse school functions and active communication with the school community. It is designed to make coursework and assignments easily available to students, facilitate the work of teachers and school managers, and engage parents in the educational process.

In Estonia, eKool is used by 90 percent of the nation’s school network, connecting learners, parents, and teachers.

Benefits

eKool has many compelling features that a school can derive benefits from. The software plays the role of reducing the manual administrative tasks by making processes easier and more efficient. It saves up to 50 percent of the time teachers spend on doing administrative work, such as preparing schemes of work, lesson plans, writing homework assignments, marking class attendance registers, filling in report forms, etc. It further helps in the management of students’ information, assessment records, teachers’ login hours, and in the supervision of tasks assigned to staff members, among other functions.

The system provides real-time information to the users – students, parents, teachers, and administrators. For example, it allows teachers to insert data concerning students’ marks and absence, and to share homework assignments, and learning materials, including e-books.

eKool has a built-in messaging tool that enables personal communication between classmates, teachers, and parents. It also automatically generates groups based on roles.

Students who are absent from class can still access the day’s lessons and assigned homework.

Further, eKool allows parents to see their children’s development and learning progress without having to wait until the end of the term or during the occasional parents’ meetings. If a student is absent in class, the parent will get to see it instantly. It therefore helps parents to monitor their children’s attendance and submission of homework.  For that reason, parents on a busy work schedule can have peace of mind as they can effectively achieve their parental roles at any point in time with little to no pressure associated with traditional physical school activities.

eKool has several integration capabilities for financial management, human resource management, library management, and school timetabling, among other institutional functions.

One of the unique integrations achieved by eKool is the linkage with the national education management database in Estonia. This has helped the Ministry of Education to capture school enrolments in real-time, from the time a learner joins preschool all the way. It monitors the learner’s retention and transfers from one school or district to another, completion of study courses, and transitions to the next levels. In the Kenyan context, it is possible to integrate eKool with the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) or any of the county government education databases.

Managing an educational institution is not easy, but automating the processes and adopting an effective school management system can be of great support. When the school management processes and systems are streamlined and organised, the students get better learning experience and the relationship between teachers, parents and the school administration improves. It also lets the school owners focus their efforts on bettering the quality of teaching and other growth initiatives.

If you are a school administrator and considering a management system that can fit your school’s operations, provide your details on the eKool website www.ekool.co.ke, or contact [email protected]. eKool staff will get back to you.