By Gilbert Ekezie
Founder of Edcent, Mr Mike Ikenwa has said that as the ASUU strike has become a big issue in Nigeria’s Education system, funding for students who now are faced with prolonged stay in universities is becoming a great concern,, both for students and their sponsors, his organisation is helping students acquire profitable skills from top universities that help the learner gets job ready at the end.
He also explained that even as the education system in Nigeria looks towards recovering from the impact of COVID-19, Edcent not only looks to take advantage of the advancements in Education technology, but seeks to be at the forefront of its adoption and development.
According to him, Edcent works closely and directly with some of the leading universities and companies in both Europe, United States and other countries, to deliver high quality, job-ready education to Nigerians and learners around around the world, improve benefits and services that ensure the learner get the best of training through bit-sized course that are very affordable and highly effective to everyone.
Ikenwa informed that Edcent began as a platform to connect Instructors with students & professionals on a single platform during the Covid-19 global pandemic. “During the Covid-19 lockdown, Edcent was able to get instructors who were teaching learners skills and new knowledge in a time when classroom education was unprecedentedly put on hold.”
He emphasised that the idea is to offer comprehensive courses to students & professionals that could help them learn and be certified on the go, without being faced with the challenges of attending physical classes due to work, busy schedules and other circumstances. “We also make learning effective, affordable and easily accessible.”
The educationist said that most of the courses were offered for free as a part of an experiment & trainees received overwhelming responses from users around the globe. “Today, Edcent has over 3,000 active users, over 6,000 subscribers, and is listed as number four on the top 10 Edtech startups to watch in 2022.”
Ikenwa further said that Edcent, which he founded in 2020, offers access to value-added courses and professional-level training offered by universities and instructors from around the world. “The courses are bit-sized and can be taken by anyone anywhere, using either Mobile, laptop or desktop computer on even a low-network connection.”
On the innovative technology behind the limitless education, he said , “When the global pandemic hit, schools were shut down and education was put on an unprecedented halt around the world, which gave Edcent a massive opportunity. We introduced an innovative approach to learning, by developing a system that allows anyone to take courses from schools and instructors, and be job-ready and certified at completion, thereby making it easy for those who would not otherwise be able to continue their education to stay learning.
“Having worked with our tech team to develop this platform, our goal now is to scale the technology and make it possible for everyone to use, no matter the location and device the person is using. We are confident that we have a great opportunity to bring limitless education to everyone, and are super excited at the opportunities that lie ahead.”