Faisal Sadiq is one of the brains behind FlexiSAF Edusoft, an IT firm created to re-invent learning and inspire people. He spoke about the challenges facing Nigerian education and how they hope to contribute to erasing them.
Tell us about your company.
FlexiSAF Edusoft Limited is an indigenous IT firm founded in 2012 to reinvent learning and inspire people to make life-long positive changes.
Nigeria has one of the most glaring challenges in education globally. Access to quality learning – teachers and content – is minimal with about 50% net attendance rate in some parts of the country and mass failure in WASSCE and NECO exams in some states in the country according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
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Over the past decade, we have trained over 5 million teachers across private and public schools on the use of ICT via our school management system.
In 2018, we launched a non-profit foundation, Flexisaf – Foundation, with the sole purpose of tackling the out-of-schools kids menace. According to UNICEF, one in every five of the world’s out-of-school children is in Nigeria. Since then, we have over a thousand beneficiaries.
How has your website or app improved learning?
In Nigeria, passing the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board examination (JAMB), West African Examination Council (WAEC), and the National Examinations Council (NECO) is crucial to advancing education. Unfortunately, many students face difficulty in exam preparation compounded by limited access to quality educational resources and facilities, particularly in rural areas, with WAEC recording a pass rate of just 39% in 2020.
While the average national pass rate for the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination was 59.22%, according to the National Bureau of Statistics 2018 report.
We have launched a new online platform called, Distinction.NG, to address this challenge and offer students comprehensive study materials, practice questions, and personalized feedback to help them prepare for these exams.
Distinction is an innovative online learning platform that has the potential to transform the way students prepare for JAMB, WAEC, and NECO exams. The platform offers a range of features that make exam preparation easy, convenient, and effective. With Distinction, students can study from anywhere, at their own pace, and focus on the areas that they find most challenging. This will increase their chances of success and help them achieve their academic goals.
In what ways will it simplify JAMB for intending candidates?
JAMB exams are notoriously difficult, and the shift to computer-based testing (CBT) has presented additional challenges. Students need to be proficient in basic computer skills and adapt to a faster-paced, more focused test environment that requires a higher level of concentration and focus, which can be especially difficult for those with limited access to technology or who are used to a more traditional paper-based exam format.
What other apps do you have?
We have launched several products catering to K-12 and tertiary education markets, including SAFSIMS, SAFRecords, SAFapply and SAFlearn.
What are the challenges you face in your line of work?
Foreign exchange is becoming increasingly more work to sustain our business, primarily because our earnings are in local currency (Naira), while we have to pay for numerous services in USD.
Then we have the issue of talent flight. We have been experiencing talent flight, with many of our skilled employees leaving for better pay and living standards in international companies.
There are also some detrimental government policies such as the FIRS recent mandate to pay a 7.5% VAT on international services, have been harsh on businesses like ours due to the lack of substitute local options.
In what ways can government or corporate bodies assist?
Government or corporate bodies can assist in talent development, providing access to infrastructure, creating partnership opportunities, implementing national policies that encourage the use of electronic data for education, and supporting schools with software procurement as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.
