Five Cowries Arts Education Initiative has stepped-up its education intervention programme with the launch of E- learning platform to sync with present day reality.
In the wake of COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, the social enterprise came up with “My Story of Water” worksheets as an alternative learning material for Nigerian students.
According to the organisation, the newly launched e-learning platform, ‘Five Cowries online’ would supplement the printed worksheets that were released in 2020.
Fivecowries.online is a digital platform that allows users, both young children and teachers, to access learning materials online, including the digital versions of worksheets that were released last year.
The organisation noted further that the initiative was designed for students of all ages to log on and get immersed in learning activities that catered to their needs.
It added, “The activities on the platform are keeping with Five Cowries general goal, which is to enhance the quality of Nigeria’s education through the arts. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) champions creativity as a core skill for children and has maintained that creativity in learning encourages self-efficacy and solutions-oriented approaches in children.
“The initiative thus partnered with UNICEF in rolling out this innovative platform through which the key projects- “My Story of Water”, “My Story of Food”, “My Story of Energy’’ and “My Story of Balance”– all of which aligned with Sustainable Development Goals, aim to reach wider audiences and, birth creativity in both students and teachers.”
The platform was built with funding from the International Relief Fund of the German Federal Foreign Office and the Goethe Institut, as well as in conjunction with Alliance Francaise Nigeria and UNICEF.
For a wider effect, the organisation said that it partnered with Alliance Francaise to translate its activities from English into several languages.
Explaining further, Director of Alliance Française in Lagos, Charles Courdent, said, “The Five Cowries Project has been the right response to the very strange times we are living because of the pandemic.
“As the first cultural network in the world, we are very proud to partner with that enthusiastic adventure: not only by translating the contents into French, which is a broadly spoken language throughout the continent, but also to promote national languages such as Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa that Alliance Française de Lagos is happy to teach.
“This project will be shared through the French network with many other countries, including Africa and beyond.”
