Rising Academy Network bets radio can deliver education to West Africa's offline students

An education company providing curriculum and teacher coaching in West Africa, pivoting to broadcast radio lessons during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Radio—a battery-powered medium already in every household costing as little as $5—could deliver structured education to students with no internet or computers.

In March 2020, COVID-19 lockdowns closed schools across West Africa. George Cowell, international director of Rising Academy Network, decided to produce radio lessons in partnership with the Liberian Ministry of Education, building a makeshift studio with toilet paper to absorb echo.

Rising recorded 26-minute lessons covering numeracy, literacy, and phonics, producing up to 10 lessons per day with two performance managers who lived in the studio for over four months. The Liberian government broadcast on 38 national and community radio stations. Content was produced in five days versus the expected five months. The curriculum included a COVID-19 jingle and a text-in number. Impact Network adapted the lessons for Zambia, translating scripts to Nyanja and broadcasting between 1pm and 4pm to suit farming communities.

Radio was already present in nearly every household across Africa, costing as little as $5 and running on batteries, far more accessible than tablets for rural students without electricity.

Rising produced content in five days versus the expected five months, proving low-tech solutions can outpace high-tech ones when infrastructure is the constraint.

The model built on prior experience from the 2014 Ebola crisis, when West African nations used radio lessons to keep children in school during health emergencies.

The radio curriculum was context-adaptable: Impact Network switched examples from apples to mangoes in Zambia and translated scripts to Nyanja.

When internet infrastructure fails, look to the overlooked technologies already in people's hands—in Africa's case, a $5 battery radio reached millions of students no tablet ever could.

As of December 2020, Rising Academy Network's radio lessons were still being broadcast across West Africa, with plans to continue during school breaks. The Liberian government had integrated radio into its education infrastructure, and the model had spread to Zambia through Impact Network partnerships. Students showed engagement—58% in Sierra Leone tuned in five days a week.