Livestreamed Lessons Connect Kenya’s Remote Schools With Qualified Subject Teachers

The Teachers Service Commission piloted the approach under the Kenya Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project, connecting schools with stronger teaching resources to schools facing staffing shortages.

For a student in a remote Kenyan school, getting to class does not always mean having access to a qualified teacher in every subject. Shortages in Science, Mathematics and English can limit learning opportunities and affect students' preparation for further education and future employment. Kenya has explored livestreamed teaching through the World Bank–Mastercard Foundation partnership to bring subject expertise to schools facing these gaps.

The Teachers Service Commission piloted the approach under the Kenya Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project, connecting schools with stronger teaching resources to schools facing staffing shortages. Teachers delivered lessons to their own classrooms and students in other schools at the same time, using technology to extend their reach. The initiative explored what would make remote instruction effective, fair and sustainable in schools with limited access to qualified subject teachers.

The work connects with the World Bank Group's Education and Skills agenda, which emphasises strong learning foundations and skills relevant to employment. Access to quality teaching in core subjects can support students' progression through education and their ability to use those skills in working life. Kenya's participation in the EdTech Policy Academy provided a wider policy setting for work on digital infrastructure, learning materials and teacher preparation.

Twelve schools connected through live lessons

The pilot brought together 12 schools, with Alliance Girls and Machakos School serving as the two Principal Schools connected to ten Satellite Schools. Principal School teachers taught their own students face-to-face and simultaneously livestreamed lessons to the participating Satellite Schools through Microsoft Teams. Lessons focused on Science, Mathematics and English, allowing schools with stronger teaching and digital resources to share instruction with those facing staffing and resource constraints.

Teacher training and digital preparation

Kenya's 2023 action plan through the EdTech Policy Academy identified hybrid learning, EdTech coordination, digital infrastructure, digital educational content and teacher capacity building as priorities. The Academy's work in 2024 strengthened the teacher development pathway through online training organised in cohorts and communities of practice. These priorities placed teacher preparation alongside the infrastructure and content needed to support learning that combines classroom teaching with remote participation.

Sharing expertise to strengthen rural teaching

The model was designed to complement efforts to strengthen teaching capacity in rural and under-resourced schools, with better-equipped schools sharing their expertise. Frederico Antunes de Carvalho, a Senior EdTech Consultant with the World Bank, explained that a central school could provide expertise to manage classes and facilitate teaching. He described this as support for schools that may lack comparable access to specialist teachers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.