Press Release
As part of efforts in boosting the educational system of Liberia, a local information Communication Company, Weeglo has enhanced the education of the country by introducing reliable e-learning program.
The company in a release said the current education project in the country is aimed at providing access to quality education in a way that is cost-effective, reliable, equitable, sustainable, and innovative.
Weeglo is a startup that is emerging as one of the potential tech giants in Africa and is a 2020 Orange Social Venture Prize (OSVP) Award winner, POESAM International Grand Prize 2020 Award winner as well.
The overall goal of the local company is to bridge the gap between traditional face-to-face and online learning opportunities.
The release further recounted that the company has significantly contributed and continue to contribute to the improvement of the education system of Liberia.
It can be recalled in 2014, Weeglo introduced the Wiki Reader to thousands of Liberian students who needed access to research information without internet connection. The Wiki Reader was a project to deliver an offline, text-only version of Wikipedia on a mobile device.
It contains the entire English Wikipedia with 3 million topics and works for months before replacement of its two AAA batteries.
“The company has been able to help by building e-learning and testing mobile applications which provide students the convenience of studying at home and on the go, buttress learning, and help boost their confidence and performance in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), the Liberia Junior High School Certificate Examination (LJHSCE), the Liberia Primary School Certificate Examination (LPSCE), the University of Liberia entrance exam,” Mr. Thomas Guwor, the Chief Executive Officer of the company is quoted in a release.
Mr. Guwor also added “Our solutions are tailored to make learning possible and accessible everywhere, all-the-time via computing devices (phone, tablets, computers), with no internet connection. This has enabled students to learn on the go and at their own pace and in their comfort zones (at home, on the farm.”
He further stated that there are over 13,000 downloads on Google Play Store by just clicking ‘Weeglo’ in play store app.
According to the release, the company has extended the e-learning platform by building and integrating a school management system into solutions.
“The good news is that schools using this innovative e-learning platform will be able to manage everything including classroom activities and grading system, registration and payment system, online testing, live video meetings, live video teaching and more,” the release added.
Students, teachers, administrators, educators and parents are allowed to interact as well as access educational resources such as the national curriculum, course guides or catalogs, course notes, lesson plans, schedules, eBooks, e-libraries, and other supplementary digital learning resources through their personal mobile devices and computers.
“Schools that took advantage of our COVID-19 Help initiative made a successful pass with 98-100% passing rate. During the height of the COVID-19, we provided free access to Weeglo E-Learning Platform to enable learning beyond the walls of the classroom, at which time schools were closed due to the pandemic. Students benefited from 11 schools, including the Salvation Army School System. In a Facebook post, the Director of Education at the Salvation Army reported a 98% passing rate and attributed gains to the Weeglo COVID-19 Help initiative. We have since reduced the subscription price of the apps from US$5.00 & US$3.00 to US$0.99 or LRD200.00 for students in both Senior and Junior high divisions respectively per student, per annum,” the release also quotes the CEO, Mr. Guwor.
The release added; “We also have a national tutorial program intended to train teachers at no cost of their own and then provide them with the tool, e-learning platform, to succeed. Under this program, we will train the teachers, who will then conduct a blended nation-wide face-to-face and online learning in all counties in Liberia. The program will target 1600 teachers.”