M-SHULE: Seizing Opportunities to Help Children Learn During COVID-19

Through her early work experiences, Claire Mongeau witnessed how invested low-income parents are in helping children access the best education possible, but she also saw that many families can’t access learning supports delivered through the internet. Wanting to help, Ms. Mongeau co-founded M-SHULE, a low-cost, subscription-based mobile learning platform delivered through SMS designed to supplement children’s regular education by delivering refresher content and practice exercises directly to their parent’s cell phone. M-SHULE’s technology analyzes each learner's ability level and generates individual learning tracks, with exercises at the student’s level of understanding. 

When COVID-19 arrived, the Kenyan government moved quickly to close schools. Though the government offered parts of the curriculum remotely through TV and radio, many Kenyan families don’t have TV at home. In response to the urgent educational need, the M-SHULE team raised funds to temporarily make its services free for families. The team also accelerated the launch of new features to better support learners and their parents through COVID-19: a COVID self-assessment tool delivered via SMS; an extension of the platform to serve younger learners; and a parent coaching tool. Ms. Mongeau hopes that M-SHULE will help learners keep their knowledge fresh, ensuring they’re prepared to resume full-time school when schools reopen in January 2021.