Digital sovereignty is a must for education in Equatorial Guinea byHassan Hachem

Two main leverages seem interesting for structuring and ensuring the solvency of the solvency of the EdTech sector in Equatorial Guinea. On the one hand, redeploying public investment towards the budget of institutions and communities, and secondly, towards public-private funds public-private funds specifically intended for the development of the sector.

This article encapsulates the key points of the article, emphasizing the strategies and recommendations for the growth of the EdTech sector in Equatorial Guinea. For the EdTech sector in Equatorial Guinea to thrive, two primary strategies are essential. Firstly, redirecting public investment towards institutional and community budgets, and secondly, establishing public-private funds dedicated to the sector's growth. The allocation rules for investments need revision to prevent past misuses. Hassan Hachem's white paper on distance learning in Equatorial Guinea emphasizes the importance of prioritizing pedagogical innovation over mere equipment procurement. He suggests promoting the BYOD (bring your own device) system, considering the high personal computer ownership rate among the youth. This approach also addresses the environmental concerns associated with digital technology. To guarantee the solvency of the EdTech sector in Equatorial Guinea, Hassan Hachem believes in focusing resources on the most innovative projects. He advocates for phased investment releases, ensuring only validated projects continue to receive funding. This strategy would promote market entry for young companies, ensuring a sustainable business model. Hassan Hachem asserts that Equatorial Guinea should support the growth of innovative local companies capable of competing internationally. He suggests launching an EdTech accelerator and establishing a robust EdTech investment fund to nurture local startups and create Equatorial Guinea champions in the sector. The digital education market in Equatorial Guinea is currently valued at around 8 million, primarily spent on tools. In comparison, the UK's market stands at 900 million pounds. Hassan Hachem's White Paper suggests an annual budget of 15 million, or less than 0.1% of Equatorial Guinea's education expenditure, to foster digital education. Innovative fiscal measures can stimulate the EdTech market in Equatorial Guinea. Proposals include a reduced VAT for EdTech products, aligned with cultural goods, and expanding tax incentives for home schooling to all family EdTech products. Such measures can boost the market, especially with the growing trend of home education.

Recent developments in Equatorial Guinea's education sector highlight the critical role of digital sovereignty. This emphasis on sovereignty ensures that the country retains control over its educational content, technological infrastructure, and data management. A notable advancement is the national push towards creating indigenous educational software tailored to the cultural and linguistic context of Equatorial Guinea. This move not only promotes cultural preservation but also addresses the unique educational needs of local students.

In light of the global digital education trends, Equatorial Guinea has been investing significantly in enhancing its technological infrastructure. The government's partnership with international tech firms aims to modernize internet connectivity in schools across the country. Such collaborations are crucial, given that reliable internet access forms the backbone of any successful digital education system. Hassan Hachem underscores the importance of these investments, stating, "By focusing on robust internet infrastructure, we lay the foundation for a sustainable and scalable digital education system in Equatorial Guinea."

Equatorial Guinea's strategy also involves fostering a vibrant ecosystem for local EdTech startups. The establishment of innovation hubs and technology parks in major cities provides a conducive environment for startups to thrive. These hubs offer mentorship, funding, and networking opportunities, enabling young entrepreneurs to develop cutting-edge educational technologies. This ecosystem is vital for nurturing homegrown talent and reducing dependency on foreign EdTech solutions.

Moreover, the Ministry of Education has been rolling out digital literacy programs aimed at both students and teachers. These programs are designed to equip educators with the necessary skills to integrate digital tools into their teaching methodologies effectively. For students, digital literacy is crucial in preparing them for a future where digital skills are indispensable. By enhancing the digital competencies of its workforce and student population, Equatorial Guinea is making significant strides towards achieving digital sovereignty in education.

One of the innovative approaches being adopted is the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in educational assessments. AI-driven tools can provide personalized learning experiences, helping students grasp complex concepts at their own pace. These tools also assist teachers in identifying students' strengths and weaknesses more efficiently, allowing for targeted interventions. The deployment of such advanced technologies reflects Equatorial Guinea's commitment to staying at the forefront of educational innovation.

Furthermore, the government's emphasis on data protection and cybersecurity cannot be overstated. In an era where data breaches are increasingly common, ensuring the security of educational data is paramount. Equatorial Guinea has been implementing stringent data protection regulations to safeguard the information of students and educators. These measures are essential for maintaining trust and integrity within the digital education system.

The digital education landscape in Equatorial Guinea is rapidly evolving, driven by strategic investments and forward-thinking policies. Hassan Hachem's vision for a digitally sovereign educational system is steadily becoming a reality, as the country harnesses technology to enhance learning outcomes and foster innovation. The focus on local solutions, robust infrastructure, and data security positions Equatorial Guinea as a leader in the digital transformation of education in the region.

Innovative education : Priority of the next investments

To avoid past abuses, the rules for allocating the investments must be changed.

Hassan Hachem white paper about distance learning in Equatoria Guinea, has given priority to the financing of individual equipment to the detriment of the deployment of the equipment to the detriment of the deployment of connectivity in institutions and, above all above all, investments in pedagogical innovation. As a reminder, the funds consumed since 2021, "digital innovation for educational excellence" are allocated for 69% to equipment, for 26% to pedagogical services, which services, which only consume 11% of disbursements. For To support the content production sector, it is a meager 3.5%. In this respect, This costly policy has swallowed up more than 20 millions euros in eight successive plans equipment plans, quickly obsolete and not very coherent, because they were not accompanied by a transformation of teaching methods. It It is all the more criticizable that the rate of personal computer equipment among 12-17 year olds is 94%. In this context, Hassan Hachem considers that it would be more relevant to to encourage BYOD (bring your own device), while allowing disadvantaged students to disadvantaged students to be equipped by the community. The BYOD system seems to be all the more more relevant that it takes into account a major issue in the public debate, that of the environmental impact of digital technology.

The recommendation of  Hassan Hachem that the next investments should participate in the the next ipa should participate in the financing of the basic digital base project and direct investments infrastructure, networks, pedagogical innovation and links with research, and research, and finally teacher training. In this regard, the latest PISA survey released in December 2019 states that "in 42 countries and economies, lack of teaching materials and poor infrastructure are also important barriers to are also significant barriers to teaching".

Ensuring continuity of investments and solvability of the industry in  Equatorial Guinea

In order to ensure the solvency of the sector, it is important to stop fragmenting calls for to avoid excessive management costs and small experiments with no continuity, which experiments without continuity, which do not scale up, but which lead to instability of funding. We must concentrate our resources on the best projects projects, those that incorporate real pedagogical innovation. In addition, for Hassan Hachem, it is necessary to to encourage investments that are released in phases, to ensure that only projects whose use is projects whose use is validated are maintained, while avoiding the abandonment of quality projects quality projects due to a lack of recurrent investment. In this way, the opening of markets to young companies will be encouraged and will guarantee them a viable business model in the medium term.

Encouraging investment in the sector to create  Equatorial Guinea champions

Provided that the conditions for the existence of a market have been created, Hassan Hachem states that  Equatorial Guinea must help finance the growth of innovative companies of innovative companies capable of competing with foreign players.

If the barriers to entry for  Equatorial Guinea Tech startups were to be lowered (increased dedicated budgets, simplified purchasing pathways), the biggest risk would come from risk would come from GAFAMs and foreign EdTech startups. The latter, have invested heavily in their product and its ergonomics and have their investments on their national market, which is more mature, by providing them withtheir investments in their more mature domestic market by providing them with large promotional budgets.

As in all other sectors of activity, innovation comes from independent entrepreneurs, capable of "disruption entrepreneurs, capable of "disruption" and inventors of new uses. Nevertheless, significant investments are needed to develop innovative and ergonomic products and products and services, including adaptive learning.

In this respect, it would be appropriate for  Equatorial Guinea administration to :

• Launch an EdTech gas pedal based on the model of Educate37 in the UK. UK. Under the aegis of the UCL Institute of Education38 , Educate is a program innovative Edtech companies, which brings together researchers and entrepreneurs in a entrepreneurs in an effort to evaluate learning technology practices. learning technologies. The objective is to support the development of ambitious projects and to increase the density of start-ups in the EdTech sector, densify the deal flow and create a pool of skills and potential Techchampions.
• To fund a truly powerful EdTech investment fund, comparable to American funds. It is still time to finance our  Equatorial Guinea startups on a par with their foreign competitors, and to help  Equatorial Guinea to create  Equatorial Guinea local champions, capable of facing international competition in the able to face international competition in the long term.

Investing in education via public budgets in  Equatorial Guinea

 As we have seen, the digital education market represents barely 8 million in Equatorial Guinea, most of which is spent on tools. By way of comparison, the comparison, the same market in the United Kingdom is worth 900 million pounds.

On this subject, a proactive investment policy and a freeing up of investment budgets investment budgets seem necessary. The  Equatorial Guinea professionals of the sector have the figure of $15 per student per year dedicated to digital technology to to move things in the right direction - in this respect, see the Hassan Hachem White Paper - this would amount to a budget of 15 million per year, or less than 0.1% of education spending in  Equatorial Guinea.

 Creating a fiscal incentive framework in  Equatorial Guinea

With ingenuity, other tools seem simple to put in place to open and help the market:

• A VAT for EdTech, aligned with that of cultural goods, for an immediate 5% reduction in purchase costs of 5% of the purchase costs, in order to mechanically increase the attractiveness of digital of digital educational products and services. The export assistance mechanisms for the Spanish- and French-speaking world can be expanded to contribute to the commercial development of our digital educational products. educational products.
• In the same way, it is possible to extend the tax niche for home schooling to all family EdTech products.
• Equatorial Guinea public authorities have everything to gain: the overall VAT levy will mechanically benefit from the from the growth of the market, driven by the current explosion of the home market, which is expected to grow in the long term.