Uptyke Education, in collaboration with iHub and the Mastercard Foundation Ed Tech Fellowship, has officially launched a groundbreaking digital content platform to empower students with disabilities. According to the statement, this partnership will considerably improve access to education for students with a variety of disabilities, including hearing and visual impairments, autism, and intellectual disabilities.
The newly launched platform is designed with inclusivity in mind. It offers both online and offline accessibility to ensure that learners, even in remote areas, can access high-quality educational resources. The content is aligned with the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) and is available in both English and Swahili, catering to the linguistic needs of students across Kenya.
Sharing about the platform, Lilian Mutegi, CEO of Uptyke Education, said:
The Uptyke Education platform offers a comprehensive suite of interactive and accessible learning materials for students with disabilities. This is an important step toward ensuring these learners receive the same digital learning experience as their peers.
The platform is designed with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles at its core, ensuring that educational resources such as videos, hands-on experiments, and tailored assessments are adaptable to meet students’ diverse learning needs. This aligns with the Ministry of Education’s focus on differentiated and accessible digital learning experiences for all learners, including those with special educational needs.
Speaking at the launch, Sheila Lutta, Assistant Director at the Ministry of Education, Special Needs Education, emphasized the need to ensure that learners with disabilities are not left behind in the digital learning revolution.
Lutta added:
The government is committed to providing inclusive education, covering key areas like early education, assessment, placement of learners with disabilities, and teacher training.
Fred Owako, National Chairman of the Association for the Physically Disabled of Kenya (APDK), echoed Lutta’s sentiments, calling on organizations to support learners living with disabilities, particularly as the government remains the primary donor.
Uptyke is an educational technology company based in Nairobi that creates inclusive and engaging digital learning content for K-12 learners with visual and hearing impairments (VI & HI). The platform focuses on autism, deaf, visual, and intellectual disabilities. Its content is designed explicitly for Kenya’s K-12 Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC). It offers engaging digital resources, including interactive lessons and Multimedia-based videos, all of which are KICD-approved. The company continuously improve its content based on feedback and new educational research.
