Educational technology can ride on the intense pandemic-induced global digitalization movement to boost learning and employment-skills development before it’s too late.

Globally, 621m youth aged 15 to 24 are not in education, employment or training — a group known as NEET in the educational sector.

According a United Nations report, an estimated one billion youths will be entering the labor market in the next decade—but they will face irregular or informal employment.

These numbers highlight the worrying global unemployment crisis especially prevalent in developing countries where 90% of all young people reside. The issue of securing employment for the Next-Gen workforce in these communities can be attributed to a lack of English, job and soft skills.

So, how can educational-technology (edutech) be used to solve the global problem? One non-profit organization has chosen gaming as their approach, and through the use of AI, boost users’ interests and proficiencies in learning.

Dawn of inclusive e-education

To offer cross-border e-access to quality education through interactive and data-driven learning, non-profit firm Solve Education! has demonstrated its success with “Dawn of Civilization (DoC)”, “Ed the learning bot”, and a dedicated analytics portal, Learnalytics.

The Singapore firm’s founders, Peng T Ong and Janine Teo, see the need for a mindset change towards learning in order to create a sustainable and scalable model for education. By encouraging young people to become lifelong learners on the platforms, they seek to challenge the status quo of less-developed communities, such as having the next-gen leaving the education system for informal employment at a young age.  

Said Teo: “Solving the issues facing education sets the foundation for solving many other world issues like gender inequality and climate change. We want to use our platform as a catalyst to impart knowledge to a new generation of leaders and change-makers. Once a child can read, write and understand wider concepts, we can teach them so many other things like communication and leadership. So that is our starting point: to give them the basic knowledge they need to be workforce-ready. It all goes back to education.”

Working closely with partners in Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Nigeria, Singapore and various countries in Asia and across the globe, Solve Education! aims to boost English literacy and their commitment to bigger issues like sustainable employment.

Priming the nextgen workforce NOW

Having just achieved its first milestone of delivering 2m lessons via its core program platforms—the DoC and its supporting Telegram chatbot “Ed the Learning Bot”—the non-profit organization aims to multiply its impact by working with institutions, foundations and leaders to reach global learners of all socio-economic backgrounds.  

This year, the company is excited to embark on new projects to touch the lives of more children in Asia. One notable project is the recent learn-and-play English language learning program with the West Java Government in Indonesia. The pilot programme targeted 10 schools in the Bandung District in West Java to help youths brush up on their English skills through the Dawn of Civilization platform.

According to Indah Dwianti, Head of Digital Services and Information, West Java Government (JABAR Digital Services): “There is an opportunity now for education to tap into the momentum of digital transformation to create more effective solutions, such as through DoC. Our partnership with Solve Education! is one that looks at sustainable outcomes for learners that will eventually follow them through their lives, careers, and the following generations to come.”

In Singapore, the firm is also working closely with Yayasan Mendaki to enhance the learning motivation of children through gamified learning.