Education
Dr. Varun Gupta: Enabling Innovators To Revolutionize Education
Dr. Varun Gupta is an Educationist and the Education Advisor to the State of African Diaspora. Apart from being Peace Ambassador for UN SUSTAINABLE GOALS, he is the Executive Director at VQENA (an NGO working on the 4th principle of the UNITED NATIONS – Quality Education). Being an Educator and the Vice president OSG, Dr. Varun offers Scholarships with a belief in educating everyone everywhere. In this interview with Alaba Ayinuola, he shares more insight on his impacts in the educational ecosystem in Africa. Excerpts.
Alaba: Could you briefly tell us about yourself?
Dr. Varun: I am the Education Advisor to the State of African Diaspora, well known for being humble, dedicated, and God-fearing. Committed to encouraging the global movement that inspires to turn consciousness into action at the Earth Charter Center for Education for Sustainable Development is a few of my objectives. A belief to treat all living beings with respect and consideration prevail to promote the transition to sustainable ways of living is what I preach.
Apart from being Indian Peace Ambassador for United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, I serve on the board of one dozen global firms in the academic sector and have collaborated for years with many international educational organizations to develop specialized programs being run for the uplifting of the African people. I have marked milestones with the pedestals of rich academic and professional experience and a young budding intellectual scholar in the education service industry. Also, Swadeshi’s business and products are what I support falling in nexus with the thought process of our Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji.
Alaba: What attracted you to Africa and her educational system?
Dr. Varun: Africa! Feels like home and I have loved the way Africa has always hosted me. The cost of living in Africa is considerably lower than developed nations. The remuneration packages are quite attractive. For a business person like me as an investor, there is a huge scope of growth as many of the African countries are rich in natural resources.
On the other hand, being an educationist, the good news on education in Africa is that out-of-school numbers have fallen dramatically over the past decade. The elimination of school fees, increased investment in school infrastructure, and increased teacher recruitment have all contributed to the change. I want to flow with the change and become a part of development is what I would like to add.
Alaba: In your role as an Education Advisor to the State of African Diaspora, what are your major achievements since your appointment?
Dr. Varun: As a member and education advisor of the African Diaspora I, ministers and MP together as a part of the constitution work on initiatives of the Parliament in sectors of activities ranging from agriculture, education, healthcare, cultural and human rights, economy and social issues, etc believe towards Africa’s empowerment especially with respect to education, skill development and employment.
While working on a project named “Cyber future academy” in Africa, I have promoted education through various programmes in the most remote and marginalized areas of Africa. We ensure and strongly believe that the benefits of the Right to Education reach the most deprived children.
Also, we focus on the most important aspect to boost the spread of education is to spread awareness amongst the parents and the communities and every child needs education.
I also feel proud to announce the latest update (Groundbreaking initiative) – launch of New Diaspora ID on African Liberation Day by the State of the African Diaspora (SOAD) and the Economic Community of the 6th Region (ECO-6). This new ID is to create a new citizenship and common unity for the Afro-descendant members of the African Diaspora.
With me, the real aim of education is to enable the students to learn HOW TO THINK and not just WHAT TO THINK. They are trained to focus not on the problem but on the solution.
Success of a country depends upon the success of its people and People can succeed only if they are able to get the exposure required to become competitive.
Alaba: How are you enabling innovators to revolutionize education in Africa?
Dr. Varun: First small step already taken includes changing the definition of classroom based training to online sessions and webinars. An approach towards technological innovations (traditional to smart learning environment) using digitalization technology is the path adopted. Here teachers can now engage their students in a more personalized, individual manner rather than the traditional, one-size-fits-all approach.
And to promote education and help the African youth take concrete steps towards their dreams, I, in the capacity of Vice President- On Sky Global is extremely happy to announce 100% Scholarship Scheme for 200 Students, no fee will be charged except for the registration fee and they will be given support & ample guidance to complete our courses and enhance their CV with international qualification. I also believe and am contributing to make Education should be the top development agenda.
Alaba: Mention some of your projects in Africa and its impacts?
Dr. Varun: In May 2014, I volunteered to go to Kigali, Rwanda (East Africa) leaving USA (California) to help a new University and agreed to hold the post as Director and later a year, promoted as Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration and Finance), as the principal administrative officer of the University. When I was in Africa, I continued to manage the foundation using ICT and communicating to all stakeholders online.
I served as an independent consultant and program content developer (and mostly pro bono) and organized capacity building training programs to governments and private organizations in the area of (a) education, skills training (b) public administration (c) good governance, and (d) leadership. I traveled to many countries to provide various workshops and seminars.
Have also developed the School of Postgraduate Studies Vision and Mission (Curriculum Statements, Prospectus and 2 year Strategic plan, 2014 for an university. I conducted training on “Developing Institutional Corporate and Strategic Work Plans”, Rwanda, Uganda & Nigeria, 2015-2016. Also established a presence and promoted programs under scholarship schemes to many nations in the East, West, Central and Southern African region.
I would also like to mention that I had participated and presented an ICT strategic plan in five days Quality Improvement Program of Entrepreneurship Development sponsored by the Ministry of Higher Education in Kigali, 20th – 24th July 2015. (Rwanda – ICT Plan).
Alaba: The current global crisis is changing the face of education especially in Africa. What adaptive solution will you offer?
Dr. Varun: The world of education is threatened and is at a juncture. One path leads back to where things were before the COVID-19 crisis, a system that, by and large, has been in place for the last 200 years. The other path concentrates on much more investment in education but also on student wellness while doing whatever can be done to ensure that learning is happening not just through test scores and output but by being more closely connected to the psychological and emotional realities of learners.
Let us aim for the path of wisdom. As the ancient proverb says: the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second-best time is now. It’s not too late.
Alaba: What is the future of education in Africa post Covid-19?
Dr. Varun: It is clear that technological innovations such as content management systems (CMS), learning management systems (LMS), and internet use have become a part of the DNA of higher education in Africa. These innovations, like COVID-19, have come to alter teaching and learning pedagogies.
Alaba: What advice would you give African leaders on the importance of education to Africa’s development?
Dr. Varun: The future of education must seek to amplify humanity’s greatest evolutionary advantage: its ability to collaborate flexibly in very large numbers across time and place. Both biology and history teach us that we cannot solve problems and flourish alone and in isolation. Enhancing social cohesion both at the local and global levels must become a core objective of education particularly if, as seems likely, internationalism and global collaboration end up as casualties of the current crisis.
Our education future must include active steps to bring the world together across all forms of the divide—political, cultural, social, and economic. This will require us to once again put ethics and values at the core of the education enterprise.
Alaba: What is your advice to African youths and entrepreneurs?
Dr. Varun: A famous proverb quotes – “if the cow gives milk as a healthy food, why ask whether she is black or white”. Our skills should become our identity. We should encourage the youth to keep on learning new skills and implementing the same in their career because we will be known for our skills; the value we will be able to derive to the nation. It will not be about who we are; but it will be then what we are; I think in Africa there are a lot of young entrepreneurs who have great ideas but never get noticed or past the small-scale level.
I think one reason is that they poorly position themselves and the organization. They don’t know how to tell their story. They don’t know how to create their brand. And I think that is also very important.
Alaba: Tell us about your favorite destinations in Africa? Why?
Dr. Varun: Oh Yes! With no doubt it’s Rwanda – The Land of Thousand Hills where I lived and spent 3 years. Many beautiful memories associated, I consider it as my second home. I love this country and its people to the core. After traveling to more than 20 countries in Africa, I find this is the safest country to live and quite easy to do business. The country is very stable with good governance (inspired and touched by the good governance of the His Excellency President Paul Kagame who inherited Rwanda that had been torn apart by Genocide.
Under his leadership, the country is now very stable, prosperous, unified and in large part, reconciled. Social services, such as education, healthcare, housing and livestock are provided to the needy, with no distinction of ethnicity or region of origin. More power to the country and its people.
There are infinite reasons to love Rwanda. I have plans to spend my retirement in presigitious Rwanda and look forward to visiting them soon.
Dr. Musa Akinyemi is an experienced Rector with a demonstrated history of working in the maritime industry. He is currently the Rector/CEO of Crown Maritime Academy, CMA a go-to maritime training institution. In this interview with Alaba Ayinuola of Business Africa Online (BAO), Dr. Musa shares more insights on the maritime training institution, its certifications, milestones and much more. Excerpt.
Alaba: Could please tell us about Crown Maritime Academy and your role?
Dr. Musa: Crown Maritime Academy, CMA was muted as an experiment in 2011. That was 10 years after my return from exile in Cote d’Ivoire having suffered insecurity as Gen. Sani Abacha deprived me of my Federal Government employment without any reason in 1996. Between 2011 and 2014, just within 3 years of existence, the Academy was recognized as a Centre of Academic Excellence by the Commonwealth in London and Listed in the 2014/2015 Edition of the Commonwealth Education Ministers Publication. In addition, Crown Maritime Academy, CMA was also featured Online by the Commonwealth Education Partnerships (CEP) of London.
My role from the onset was strategically collapsed between Lecturing and Administering. Thus, I chose to be addressed with the status of Registrar. Yet, I had to decide and also design courses to offer as well as which curriculum to evolve or develop. Therefore, I added the CEO title, even as Registrar. That made me search for a seasoned and very resourceful postgraduate fellow who became the Rector.
Alaba: What sets Crown Maritime Academy apart from other Maritime Academy and how is it positioned to be the go-to institution?
Dr. Musa: This Academy has been set apart uniquely, abinitio, because we envisioned and delivered an Academy with a qualitative, affordable and available platform capable of achieving pan-Africanism, especially the African youth emancipation.
Already, we have commanded progressive credibility and stable camaraderie with fellow academies and universities locally and in the diaspora. It is expected that continuity, creativity and just-in-time delivery of our programmes would position Crown Maritime Academy, CMA as a go-to maritime training institution.
Alaba: Please tell us about the certifications offered, accreditation and opportunities that come after completion?
Dr. Musa: The Academy started with Diploma award for 2 years programme, at the end of which, after some 1 year practice in the industry, awardees could return to do the Advanced Diploma. Indeed, it was a sound and recommendable beginning. What we are doing now is to fully blend with the Federal Ministry of Education’s regulatory framework so as to start the National Innovative Diploma (NID) or National Diploma (ND) in our own name.
Many of our graduates are already engaged in the military, para-military, port operations and the like, while a few others have set-up their own businesses.
Alaba: Can you highlights some of your significant milestones and challenges?
Dr. Musa: Crown Maritime Academy, CMA is at the forefront of sustainable maritime education and training in Nigeria. In 2021, our senior management team was specifically selected and sponsored to conduct a Facility Tour of the Federal Government-owned Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) at Oron, Akwa Ibom State. The only private maritime training institution in Nigeria to be so recognized.
Don’t forget also that we produced the Best-Graduated Shipping Management Student in Nigeria in 2017/2018. In 2018/2019, we repeated the academic feat by also producing the Best-Graduated Shipping Management Student in Nigeria. We are equally among those leading in Transport and Logistics Management, as we produced the Best-Graduated in this specialization in Nigeria in the 2020/2021 session.
Meanwhile, our challenges remain, namely, the harsh and unsupported maritime domain plus the capital intensive nature of providing tertiary education.
Alaba: What is your overall assessment of the entire situation of Nigerian maritime training and capacity building?
Dr. Musa: We are still operating at 50 % capacity. Most sincerely though, if not for the resuscitation of the MAN Oron by the current Rector, Rtd. Commodore Effedua, the capacity could have been far lower.
So, let it be known that with the MAN Oron bouncing-back, the Federal Government would get the graduating cadets the much-needed training vessels and, as a matter of urgency, float an ocean-going fleet to employ them. Of course, training should, from this achievement, become a life-long development.
Alaba: What are CMA priorities/plans for the year and where do you see the academy in the next 5 years?
Dr. Musa: Our current priorities include moving to our permanent site as well as to smoothly and successfully partner with the Federal authorities in respect of educational qualifications, regulations, standards, control and compliance.
I am very confident that foreign students would regularly seek admission and come to study at Crown Maritime Academy, CMA in Nigeria.
Alaba: Your advice for students and professionals in or aspiring to go into the maritime sector?
Dr. Musa: The first advice from me is that they should not fail to understand the importance of triple “T” or T raised to power 3. The first T is Time, they should not be looking for how to cut corners or abuse the process. Let them give all the time needed to study! The second T is for Talent. This means that they should not come empty and go back empty, they should be loaded with effervescent intellectual deposits!! Finally, the third T, which stands for Trust. This is to say that you can not excel and sustain the lucrative life of a shipping professional if colleagues and the stakeholders can not trust you.
The Space Prize Foundation announces the launch of its partnership with UNESCO, aimed at democratizing access to space education and inspiring a new generation of female scientists and engineers in Africa. Despite sixty years of space exploration, women are grossly underrepresented in the space industry, making this initiative potentially transformative on the educational landscape and, ultimately, the future of space exploration.
Starting in Rwanda, this visionary partnership will unfold over the next several months as both organizations meticulously plan the framework for the implementation of the Space Prize Foundation’s Space Education Curriculum. The initiative is designed to equip teachers across Africa with the tools and resources they need to empower young minds, particularly young women, to pursue careers in scientific and engineering fields. The open source curriculum is the first of its kind and was developed by leading science teachers across the United States of America.
Key elements of this initiative include:
Survey for Teacher Development: The Space Prize Foundation will conduct a comprehensive survey to identify the specific needs and levels of development required by teachers. The survey will delve into teaching styles, current practices in space education, and the resources available to educators.
Workshops for Curriculum Implementation and Teacher Empowerment: UNESCO and the Rwanda National Commission for UNESCO will identify participating teachers. The first workshop will provide participating teachers with an introduction to the Space Education Curriculum. A leading expert in space education will guide teachers in customizing the curriculum for their students and schools. The second workshop will be dedicated to Q&A, ensuring teachers have time to digest the curriculum.
Curriculum Reception: Following the initial workshops, teachers will be encouraged to present the tailored curriculum to their students at least twice a month. Feedback from this implementation will be reviewed in two 90-minute workshops to discuss the curriculum’s reception.
Structured Roll-out in Q2 2024: The formal launch of the curriculum is scheduled for Q2 2024, during which the Space Prize Foundation, UNESCO and participating teachers will design the cadence of classes and schedule monthly review sessions. This flexible approach aims to cater to the unique needs and capacities of different educational settings.
Impact Assessment: UNESCO will design an impact survey to measure the effectiveness of the Space Education Curriculum.
By commencing this journey in Rwanda, the Space Prize Foundation and UNESCO are laying the groundwork for a transformative educational initiative that will resonate across the continent. This partnership embodies a commitment to fostering the next generation of space enthusiasts, driving innovation, and building a brighter future for humanity.
Ubongo, Africa’s leading children’s edutainment and media company, is excited to announce its 10-year anniversary, marking a decade of transforming education and empowering millions of children across the continent. With an impressive portfolio of educational programs including Akili and Me, Ubongo Kids, and the recent addition of the captivating new show Nuzo and Namia, Ubongo continues to set the standard in innovative learning experiences for kids.
Since its founding in July of 2013 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Ubongo has been dedicated to providing fun, localized, and multi-platform educational content that helps children foster a lifelong love of learning. Through accessible technologies like TV, radio, and mobile phones, Ubongo has reached over 32 million families across Africa, making a significant impact on the continent’s education landscape. Independent research studies examining Ubongo’s programs have consistently revealed their profound impact, enhancing school readiness, improving learning outcomes, and fostering positive social and behavioral change among both children and their caregivers.
Over the past 10 years, Ubongo has grown from a small Tanzanian grassroots startup to a Pan-African non-profit organization and the market leader in African edutainment. Ubongo’s innovative and engaging edutainment programs empower kids with the knowledge and critical skills they need to change their lives and their communities for the better.
“We are thrilled to celebrate this incredible milestone of 10 years,” said Mwasi Wilmore, CEO of Ubongo. “It is a testament to the hard work, dedication, and passion of our team, partners, and supporters who have believed in our mission and contributed to our success. Together, we have made a significant impact on education in Africa, and we are committed to continuing our journey of transforming learning for generations to come.”
In commemoration of this significant milestone, Ubongo has arranged a special 10-year anniversary event in Dar es Salaam to celebrate the accomplishments and milestones achieved throughout the years. The event will feature inspiring speeches and captivating presentations showcasing the journey and impact of Ubongo’s edutainment programs.
“We invite all our partners, supporters, and stakeholders to join us in celebrating this significant milestone,” added Mwasi Wilmore. “Together, let us reflect on our journey, express our gratitude, and renew our commitment to providing quality education and transformative learning experiences for children in Africa.”
“As we look ahead to the next decade, we remain steadfast in our mission to reach even more children, leveraging the power of edutainment to unlock their potential and shape a brighter future for Africa,” added Mwasi Wilmore.
