IOHK partners with Ethiopia to enhance its education system

Last April 29, Input Output Hong Kong or IOHK partnered with the government of Ethiopia in enhancing the country’s education system by providing a new system for student and teacher identification, digital grade verification, and overall security of the school administration using the blockchain platform Cardano.

IOHK stated that by using Cardano’s decentralized identity solution Atala PRISM ID, authorities can create tamper-proof records of educational performance for 5 million students, 3,500 schools, and 750,000 teachers while targeting educational resources effectively.

In their announcement, IOHK indicated that Africa has been one of their primary development targets over the years since the organization’s central goal is to offer financial services to the world’s ‘unbanked population.’

With this vision, IOHK went to Ethiopia and Uganda in 2019 to teach women how to code in Haskell, which is the primary programming language behind Cardano.

IOHK’s Africa Operations Unit Director John O’Connor believes that their partnership with the government of Ethiopia will not only help them grow but also give them the chance to promote blockchain innovation throughout the African continent.

‘Ethiopia’s blockchain-based education transformation is a key milestone on IOHK’s mission to provide economic identities and employment, social and financial services for the digitally excluded,’ he explained in a press release.

O’Connor further stated that since Cardano has remained active in the crypto industry for the past five years, they are confident that the platform is mature enough to support a blockchain solution that can serve an entire national population.

In response to Ethiopia’s partnership with IOHK, Ethiopian Education Minister Getahun Mekuria remarked that the project would make the nation’s education provision more dynamic.

‘Ethiopia’s Sheba Valley is already recognised as the leading AI hub in Africa, 70 per cent of our university graduates are in STEM subjects and we are now leading the way in using blockchain to digitalise education,’ he said.

Additionally, Mekuria believes that blockchain technology can serve as the country’s key opportunity to end digital exclusion and widen access to higher education, employment and a way to boost their global economy.

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