How can digital education reach places where the internet is scarce, whether due to limited network coverage, high data costs, or unreliable connections? This challenge lies at the heart of a new collaboration between EduTab Africa and the Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) Consortium, initiated at eLearning Africa 2025 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
At the event, representatives of both organizations met in person for the first time. From this exchange emerged the idea of adapting selected EduTab learning materials for DRM technology and presenting them in a joint demonstration. This demo marks the beginning of a closer partnership, set to unfold over the coming months through follow-up meetings and collaborative projects, initially focusing on Kenya and other African countries.
EduTab Africa – a Kenyan edtech company, already recognized for its professionalism and success in digital learning – develops digital learning solutions on affordable devices specifically designed for schools and educational institutions across Africa. The platform provides structured curricula, localised content, and an intuitive user interface, currently reaching people, schools, and institutions in areas with internet access.
Through its collaboration with DRM, EduTab Africa is now expanding its reach, ensuring learners in areas without digital infrastructure or where internet access is prohibitively expensive can also benefit from its educational resources. For EduTab Africa and other African education initiatives, this cooperation can contribute their pedagogical and technical expertise to the adaptation of content for DRM transmission; collaborate with local radio stations for content distribution and create regional value chains, from content production to the development and manufacture of receivers within Africa.
The DRM Consortium is promoting the international digital radio standard Digital Radio Mondiale. This technology enables digital-quality audio broadcasts and through the Journaline data service, also delivers text, graphics, and educational materials. It allows educational content to be provided in multiple languages, interactively, and completely independent of the internet, even in exceptional situations such as natural disasters, conflicts, or economic crises.
The joint demonstration will showcase the system in action. Podcast-style lessons are transmitted via Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM). For this initial showcase, two episodes of EduTab Africa’s African Children Stories Podcast, drawn from the African Storybook editions, were adapted into DRM modules that carefully integrate locally relevant content for African learners. The content can be broadcast through international, local and regional radio stations, providing a flexible and scalable way to reach learners across diverse regions. Built on locally developed educational materials, these modules reflect the continent’s rich linguistic and cultural diversity. A specially designed receiver creates a local Wi-Fi hotspot, allowing learners to access audio lessons, texts, and exercises on simple tablets, entirely without internet or mobile network connectivity, making education accessible even in remote or underserved areas.
The initiative is being implemented together with Encompass, the DRM Project Office, Fraunhofer IIS, Starwaves, TDF and other members of the DRM Consortium. The technical adaptation of educational materials for DRM builds local know-how, strengthening African expertise and innovation in the education and technology sectors in the long term. Although the cooperation between EduTab Africa and DRM is still at an early stage, it already demonstrates the potential of combining technology, local expertise, and educational innovation, showing how radio waves can become new channels for learning.
Going forward, the project aims to strengthen technological infrastructure and build sustainable local know-how, nurturing expertise and innovation that foster long-term value creation in Africa. At the same time, it seeks to promote international collaboration to expand access to educational content across borders.
Further information about EduTab Africa and related African education and e-learning initiatives can be found at the following links:
- EduTab Africa – Main website with projects, partner initiatives, and educational solutions tailored for schools across Africa.
- African Children Stories Podcast – Produced by EduTab Africa, offering locally inspired audio stories for learners.
- African Storybook – Open educational resource platform providing storybooks in multiple African languages to support literacy and learning.
- DRM @ eLearning Africa 2025 – News item about DRM’s participation in eLearning Africa 2025.
- e-learning.drm.org – General information and resources about e-learning via DRM Digital Radio.
