Efekta – an offshoot of Education First (EF) – launched the nationwide teacher training program in partnership with Rwanda’s Ministry of Education and the Rwanda Basic Education Board in July 2025, starting with a group of 16,000 teachers.
Now, some 90,000 have benefitted from the two-year training program, Efekta revealed, with plans to reach as many as 150,000 teachers across the country. The initiative is backed by the Mastercard Foundation and the World Bank through Rwanda’s Quality Basic Education for Human Capital Development (QBE) program.
Rwanda’s Minister of Education, Joseph Nsengimana, said strengthening English proficiency was “essential” in improving teaching outcomes for the country’s students.
“This is why the government of Rwanda has launched this two-year national training program. This is a significant investment in teachers, our educators, because we believe they are the cornerstone of our national future.”
The teacher training program includes AI-powered personal learning that is tailored to users in Rwanda, as well as offering users a data dashboard so they can track their progress. An analysis of the first cohort showed consistent improvement in language skills, with teachers starting at an A2 level on the CEFR scale and reaching B1, B2 or even C1 proficiency levels.
This is a significant investment in teachers, our educators, because we believe they are the cornerstone of our national future
Joseph Nsengimana, Rwanda Minister of Education
Ivan Ntwali, country director of the Mastercard Foundation, said that the results in Rwanda offered a “scalable, cost-effective blueprint” for technology-driven language learning across the rest of Africa.
“The insights and best practices which will emerge from this initiative have the potential to inspire other nations to follow suit and give them a roadmap in how best to leverage the effectiveness, accessibility and impact of technologies such as Efekta’s,” he said.
Meanwhile, Efekta Education CEO Stephen Hodges said that the initiative went beyond improving English proficiency in teachers, and positioned Rwanda as
“a leader in educational reform across Africa”.
“By integrating advanced AI into a customised, locally relevant learning model, we are enabling teachers and students to achieve measurable progress,” he added.
The scheme was also launched across Somalialand, Ethiopia, and Kenya in 2025, with the aim of improving English proficiency and communication among teachers and students at secondary schools.
In Rwanda, it supports the government’s National Strategy for Transformation, which prioritises improving the quality of education across the country and strengthen human capital development.
Efekta has also seen impressive results in Latin America, with its digital learning tool Classroom AI open to millions of students across Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico.
The company scooped prizes in the ‘Digital innovation of the year – learning’ and ‘Language training provider of the year’ categories at this year’s PIEoneer Awards.
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