Edtech app G-Quiz helping Gambian students pass exams

In 2018, The Gambia recorded one of its worst secondary school examination results in its history. The West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) indicated that only 475 students out of 13,335 candidates had high enough scores to go to university, which means over 96% of students failed to secure university entrance.

This poor performance sparked a public outcry questioning the factors responsible for the bad results from Gambian students.

Musa Bah, a veteran English teacher and principal of Mbullum Ahmadiyya Upper and Senior Secondary School, said the results were everyone's making.

"I think the failure of the education system is a reflection of the poor curriculum and many other factors. From the government, to WAEC, parents, teachers and students all have a portion of the blame," Bah said.

Some Gambians began searching for tech solutions to help improve the country's basic educational infrastructure to achieve quality education for all.

In 2021, Gambian tech entrepreneurs Ebrima Senghore and Baba Jaiteh launched the G-Quiz app to help secondary school students practice WAEC examination questions and answers using old exam papers.

"We are a tech solution company with a vision to help students in the Gambia and West Africa become self-sufficient and personalized learners through G-Quiz," said Senghore, who is co-founder and CEO of the startup.

Senghore said students need to study by themselves, but to do that they need to access quality learning materials in the form of textbooks and technology that can assist them, and this is what G-Quiz provides.

"What we realized is that in Africa most students don't get their questions answered in schools, there are not enough quality study materials, student-to-teacher ratio is high, one can find sixty students in one classroom," Senghore explained.

He said that, initially, they thought the poor education system was a Gambian problem only, but later realized that it was a sub-regional challenge.

The app started as a test prep platform for students to review and practice on past WAEC exam papers. Now the platform also has a video library for students who are good at visual learning as well as intelligent performance statistics (IPS) – which monitor students' progress and provide feedback for users on focus areas and exam timing, and rectify student errors on the spot.

The content targets students between the ages of 15 and 19 years old, but plans are underway to develop features that are suitable for tertiary students as well.

The app has a library of past exam papers and also offers free exam preparation classes led by experienced examiners. It also has an artificial-intelligence-powered study assistant called G-Quiz Study Buddy that provides personalized answers to academic questions.

Expansion plans in West Africa

Considering that the Gambia has a relatively small number of students compared to countries like Nigeria and Ghana, the G-Quiz team is expanding its platform to other West African markets.

"We have incorporated ourselves in Ghana and done all the paperwork in Ghana and recently we’ve been to Nigeria for the same reasons," Senghore revealed.

Within the next two years, the goal is to be in all five anglophone countries where the West Africa Examination Council operates.

G-Quiz plans to expand its app into Ghana and Nigeria and then into more West African countries.(Source: Image by Freepik)

G-Quiz also plans to expand to francophone Africa, starting in Senegal and Ivory Coast, and has already started developing content for the Baccalaureate exams – the French examination equivalent of grade twelve in anglophone countries.

G-Quiz has also presented some samples in Tunisia and sees great potential in the North African market.

Partnerships for success

The G-Quiz team is expanding via partnerships with both private and public entities.

It signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Gambia's Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MoBSE), which is helping with content creation as it needs to follow national subject curriculum on the app.

"Partnering with the MoBSE boosted our credibility and we are looking for partnerships with the telecom sector for marketing budget, data supply to students, as well as in terms of giving value to the students," Senghore stated.

G-Quiz team members with student users at an event.(Source: G-Quiz).

In May 2023, G-Quiz also partnered with Africell – the largest telecom operator in The Gambia – which gives free data to users of the platform.

G-Quiz has over ten thousand students using the app, and is currently focusing on creating content for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects, but the ultimate objective is to cater to all fields of study for secondary school education.

Senghore stressed that G-Quiz is very conscious of personal data protection and security, and that the app has several layers of security that protects users' personal data.

The app has a good track record with a 94% pass rate from users, but for now is only available on iOS and Android mobile devices. Plans are under way to have a desktop version soon.

All of G-Quiz's learning materials – including lessons, practice tests, and quizzes – are created by experienced educators who are experts in their respective fields.

G-Quiz's content is free to download and use, but some premium features will soon be available to subscribers at a cost of US$8 per month.

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*Top image source: Image by Freepik.