Quality early childhood education is the core of a child’s journey, as the success of all later stages of schooling depends on it.
Have you thought about teaching your children using their native language? Perhaps, you are wondering about how to provide your kids with quality education without going to a physical lesson.
The Teesas Education app could be the answer to all of these troubles. Now, let us check it out:
About Teesas Education
Teesas is an African ed-tech app that focuses on early childhood education (kindergarten to primary 6). It does this by utilising technology to deliver high-quality educational content that is locally adaptable in both English and local languages.
The edtech app believes that education holds the key to transformational growth in Africa and that mastering complicated ideas at a young age will lead to exceptional academic performance as the child progresses to higher classes.
The app, which is currently only accessible in Nigeria, adheres to the national curriculum. Olamilekan Popoola, Senior Brand/Digital Marketing Lead at Teesas, claims that all subjects are taught in accordance with the various curricula available and in accordance with the various grades.
He disclosed this in an exclusive interview with Technext.
Read Also: ‘Teesas gives young learners a well-rounded education’ – Osayi Izedonmwen, Teesas CEO
Getting started
The app is 24MB in size and requires an Android 6.0 OS and up to function.
Signing up for the app is relatively simple, especially with the assistance of a parent or guardian. There are options to assist individuals in developing questions and content that are relevant to their school curriculum and class.
There are five types of schools from which students can choose: British, National, Military, Catholic, and Static.
However, there is no verification process, and I discovered that the same phone numbers can be used to open multiple accounts when I tried it several times.
App Design
The app contains numerous design elements that appear to contribute to the creation of enriching experiences that are age-appropriate. The app’s features are also gamified, with common animated pictures that kids can relate to.
Interactions within the app appear to be well-structured, simple, and consistent. The app’s background colour is green, which is a great choice because it has been shown to calm children and help them concentrate on tasks.
What the app promises
The app promises a lot of great things, and we’ll look into some of its amazing features.
Video Quality Video: All of the videos on the app are of high quality. They are also very brief in order to maintain user engagement. Furthermore, the video method is gratified in animation and musicals, which is a good strategy for capturing and sustaining the attention of children.
Live classes: The app also includes online classes tutored by Teesas instructors to help these children strengthen their learning journey. This is a fantastic plan because children require guidance when it comes to learning.
Parental Guidance: In addition to the live classes, the app has various methods for providing guidance to these children. The app includes a report section that displays the child’s daily and weekly activity performance. There is also a companion app that reports this information in greater detail.
Entrance Exam Preparation: The app also promises to help children prepare for entrance exams. Basic subjects such as Math, English, and Science are dissected in the curriculum to create copious exam practice tests accompanied by video lessons for kids to practice with.
Indigenous Languages: Apart from the basic subjects like English, Math and Science, The app promises to educate children in their indigenous languages, and it appears to do so. With over five local languages, including Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa, the app has made it easier for these children to learn these languages through engaging content and folktale stories.
E-books: E-books are another great way for the app to fulfil its mission. The e-books are similar to folktale stories. They are divided into sections for each class category and can be purchased online. The price ranges from 1,500 to 1,900 naira depending on some factors.
Teesas Store: Perhaps I should inform you that the app only supports a limited number of learning activities because there is a subscription plan that covers the majority of the learning process. You will require access to unlock all courses and features. There are three subscription plans available, as well as a Teesas store where parents can purchase educational tablets such as the Omotab2 for their children.
The good news is that, while the tablet may appear expensive, you are eligible for free access to all educational content on the app for a few months depending on the value of the tablet you purchased.
Is the app living up to its promise?
To some extent, yes. While the app delivers on what it promises, there is always room for improvement.
One of the app’s major selling points is the inclusion of indigenous languages; currently, only a few indigenous languages are included in the app, despite the fact that Nigeria has over 500 languages.
When asked about the future plans for more inclusion, Popoola said,
As we speak, we have new languages coming live on the app in a matter of weeks, both local languages and African languages.
So, if the app does not yet support your native language, do not worry; it will.
Besides that, the app appears to be helping these kids in ways other than just their academic development. The app also aims to help these kids grow and become better versions of themselves, especially with the Life Skills section, which instructs them on moral development and education.
Furthermore, despite the high quality of the videos, I was super interested in how the educational experts are hired.
However, Popoola told Technext, that their tutors are a carefully chosen team of professionals, and any tutor being considered for hire must have both teaching experience and experience with online learning with children.
Finally, the app seems to load pages slowly and sometimes crashes, which may be taxing for young children as quite a number have limited attention spans.
Finally, What we think
In general, the app is a blast to use. Even as an adult, I found a lot of the content to be very exciting and interesting, and I think kids would enjoy using the app.
Furthermore, I believe that being the first educational technology app in Nigeria to include local languages in the content is a significant selling point because as Nigerians, we must safeguard our indigenous languages.