Rising Academy Waterloo, announced in the top 10 shortlist for T4 Education’s World’s Best School Prizes!

Rising Academy Waterloo in Sierra Leone has today been shortlisted for the World’s Best School Prizes. Organised by T4 Education, the World’s Best School Prizes are the world’s most prestigious education awards, which recognise and celebrate the pivotal role schools play in our world.

Rising Academy Waterloo, an independent pre-school through secondary school on the outskirts of Freetown Sierra Leone and part of the Rising Academy Network, has been nominated in the “Overcoming Adversity” category. It is the first school in the country to have been shortlisted for an award. Founded in 2016 in the wake of the Ebola crisis, the school has defied the odds: doubling enrollment during periods of significant economic hardship and earning top marks in public exams while keeping fees below $1 per day.

Hon. Mr Conrad Sackey, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education commented, “I’m delighted to be able to congratulate you for being shortlisted for the prestigious World’s Best School Prize in the Overcoming Adversity Category. This recognition is a testament to your incredible work innovating and transforming Sierra Leone’s educational outcomes. Your commitment to overcoming challenges and fostering a thriving student environment is truly commendable. Your innovative use of technology and unwavering pursuit of excellence have not only set a benchmark for educational institutions in Sierra Leone but have also inspired others to follow suit. In Sierra Leone, the government has committed to using technology to improve educational outcomes and ensure that every child has access to quality education. Your achievements serve as a shining example of what can be accomplished through perseverance, creativity and a focus on student success. I am proud to be part of the journey with you, congratulations again on a remarkable achievement and I wish you the very best in your future endeavours.”

David Lammy MP, UK Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs commented, “Congratulations to Head Teacher, Alpha Kamara and to all of the students, teachers and parents, as you become the first school in Sierra Leone to receive this accolade. I first visited Sierra Leone back in 2001 and, despite the many challenges the country has had to navigate since then, it continues to make progress. Congratulations once again to Rising Academy Waterloo and the educational reformers across Sierra Leone who have made this all possible.”

The impact of Rising Academy Waterloo has been felt far beyond its local community. Innovations developed and tested in the school have now reached over a quarter of a million students across Sierra Leone and beyond. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the school helped pioneer “Rising-on-Air”, a radio education programme to keep children kept out of school engaged and learning. This 20-week programme of radio lessons for all grade levels was selected by the government in Sierra Leone to be broadcast not only to parents in Freetown but to the whole nation and was also adopted by neighbouring West African countries.

The school has also become an innovation centre for Rising’s free-to-use, multi-award-winning AI-powered virtual maths tutor, Rori, which has already reached over 90,000 children via WhatsApp. Furthermore, the “RisingFaster” programme, designed and tested at Rising Waterloo to help children who had fallen behind catch up, has now been adopted by 700 public schools across Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana and Rwanda.

Paul Skidmore, CEO, said, “As Rising Academies celebrates our 10th anniversary, this is an incredibly proud moment not only for our exceptional team at Rising Academy Waterloo, but for our whole organisation. When we began this journey in 2014 it was hard to imagine that 10 years on, we would be supporting more than 250,000 students in 900 schools across Sierra Leone, Liberia, Rwanda and Ghana. This has only been possible because of the incredible support of parents, teachers, school leaders and government partners. This is just the start. Our ambition is to work hand in hand with governments, local communities and education partners to raise the quality of learning and schooling for millions of children across the continent in the next 10 years.” 

Vikas Pota, Founder of T4 Education and the World’s Best School Prizes, said, “Unless we solve the urgent challenges global education faces – from learning gaps exacerbated by COVID to chronic underfunding and the growing teacher wellbeing, recruitment and retention crisis – we will have failed the next generation. Trailblazing Sierra Leone schools like Rising Academy Waterloo, which have cultivated a strong culture and aren’t afraid to innovate, show the difference that can be made to so many lives. Schools everywhere can now learn from their solutions, and it’s time governments do so as well.”

The winners of the five Prizes will be chosen by an expert Judging Academy based on rigorous criteria. In addition, all 50 shortlisted schools across the five Prizes will also take part in a Public Vote, which opened today. The school which receives the most public votes will receive the Community Choice Award and membership to T4 Education’s Best School to Work programme to help them support teacher wellbeing.

To place your vote for Rising Academy Waterloo click here.

Rising Academies' Liberian Managing Director, Precious Buxton, reflects on a landmark moment for Liberian Education

Last week represented a landmark moment for Liberian education.

New Minister, Hon. Dr Jarso Maley Jallah, has committed direct financial support for the Liberian Education Advancement Program (“LEAP” formerly “PSL”) in her 2024 Education Budget. This budget has now officially been signed into law by our President, His Excellency Joseph Boakai, Sr.

It is a hugely symbolic moment, and demonstrates not only the governments’ ongoing commitment to LEAP but also their commitment to building an education ecosystem where testing innovative solutions is encouraged and embraced.

Many initiatives come and go quickly in Liberia and most are never truly owned or designed by the government. That’s not the case with LEAP. Now 8 years old, it is an example to the world of how PPPs can be designed, tested, evaluated, reformed and improved continuously over time by government. It is also a shining example of education bipartisanship. Three separate administrations have been guided on LEAP by looking at its rigorous evidence of impact, and by spending time in school communities rather than being driven by politics. I can’t congratulate Minister Jallah enough for starting her tenure by touring the country to spend time in schools, hearing from students, parents and teachers. The message from her first country tour was clear: LEAP is not perfect, no project is, but it has a vital role to play as we move our education system forward.

Congratulations also to the philanthropic organisations that provided the capital to launch this groundbreaking innovation. LEAP has mobilised over USD$40m of philanthropic investment into the sector since its inception in 2016. This funding has been highly catalytic: creating rich evidence, stronger data systems, new technologies, improved outcomes, policy reforms and a vibrant education ecosystem that can now help drive system improvements forward. This early risk investment has paved the way for today’s government contribution, and I hope we now see the larger institutional players step up too so that we can truly leverage the learnings from the project. (LEAP Reflections and Learnings Report 2016-2024 available here.)

Congratulations to Hon. Dr Jarso Maley Jallah and her team for this historic moment. Congratulations also to former Minister Hon. Professor Dao Ansu Sonii, who helped guide LEAP to new heights, and to LEAP’s creator, Hon. George K. Werner, who had not only the vision, but the bravery to execute and deliver on this dream. You set in motion something very special. 

As a Liberian, I am incredibly proud to be leading a team in this groundbreaking partnership. It is the reason I left my career in New York City to come home to Liberia. I know the other leaders of LEAP’s four partners feel the same way. Shout out to Urias Brooks, Andrew Tehmeh and Hon. GG and their teams, and to everyone else who has worked so hard to embed LEAP at all levels of Liberia’s education ecosystem. Above all, I want to congratulate the three government administrations for what they have achieved. Time is showing that what you have built is special and can serve as an example for others around the world.

Having started working with just 5 schools in Year 1 of the program, Rising Academies now supports 95 schools within this partnership. Our team will not only continue to support these schools but will also do everything they can with our Ministry partners and the other LEAP providers to further strengthen the system and advance education across Liberia.

We are excited to continue on this journey with you. 

Oxford and J-PAL Researchers see strong early results for Rising’s AI tutor

New early stage research by researchers from the University of Oxford and J-PAL have shown very promising early results for our virtual math tutor Rori.

The study, conducted over 8 months, included 1,000 students in grades 3-9 across 11 schools in Ghana. The study found that students who received two 30-minute sessions with Rori, on top of their normal math lessons, had “markedly higher scores” in maths, with an effect size of 0.36.

Researchers concluded, “While the results should be interpreted judiciously, as they only report on year 1 of the intervention, and future research is necessary to better understand which conditions are necessary for successful implementation, they do suggest that chat-based tutoring solutions leveraging artificial intelligence could offer a cost-effective approach to enhancing learning outcomes for millions of students globally.”

The full research paper can be found here.

Continued thanks to our partners Vitol Ghana, You Foundation and Deutsche Postcode Lotterie for their ongoing support.

Student who captured Ghana’s Imagination wins Rising’s Alumni Award

When 17 year old Tyrone Marghuy attended his Junior High School Graduation Ceremony in March 2021, he and his family had little idea that within just a few short weeks, he would become one of the most recognised young men in Ghana. 

Even today, 3 years on, Tyrone’s story continues to capture the imagination of Ghanaians of every age. He is recognised in Ghana almost everywhere he goes; the type of visibility normally reserved only for footballers, popstars or high-ranking political figures. And yet, Tyrone has spent almost all of the last 6 years with his head-down, focused on his school work. So how could this be?

The story begins as Tyrone began to prepare for Senior High School. Tyrone had graduated from Rising’s Ablekuma School on the outskirts of Greater Accra with an outstanding academic record, achieving the highest grades possible in the national BECE exams (taken at the end of Junior High School). This had earned him a place at one of Ghana’s most prestigious Senior High Schools: Achimota School, a public boarding school renowned for its high-academic standards. 

But things took an unexpected turn when Tyrone was controversially denied admission due to his appearance. The problem: Tyrone was a Rastafarian and wore dreadlocks.

Achimota deemed Tyrone's dreadlocks as a violation of their Code of Conduct, rules that went back as far as 1927. However, for Tyrone and his family, these dreadlocks were not merely a fashion statement but an integral part of their religious identity. What followed was a clash between institutional rules and an individual's right to express their cultural and religious beliefs. 

The incident hit the front pages and sparked a national debate that ran for months. Were Achimota right to uphold their longstanding rules? Or were these rules antiquated and not fit for purpose in age more sensitive to cultural and religious inclusivity? 

As the case escalated in the press and the courts, the pressure mounted on Achimota School to relook at their decision. Eventually, the school made a pivotal U-turn. Tyrone enrolled into the school in June 2021. That was the good news. 

The bad news was that there was only 7 days of the first semester remaining when Tyrone arrived on campus, and he was welcomed with the news that he and his peers would be writing 11 exam papers over the coming days. Exam paper 1 was already on the table as started his first lesson. He may have finally secured his place, but life wasn’t about to get any easier. 

Tyrone’s positive outlook and work ethic helped him adapt to life at boarding school, but he admits that it wasn’t easy:

“When people ask me about what I went through, I don’t want to tell them the reality of how hard it’s been, because then they won’t believe that they can do something like this themselves. I also don’t want to tell them it’s been easy either. On many days I worked for 20 hours a day.”

By September of 2023, Tyrone was making headlines again. He had not only overcome significant obstacles to graduate from Ghana’s most famous school, but he had done so with straight A’s; topping the class in Science and elective Maths. 

On Wednesday 7th February 2024, we were delighted to make Tyrone the recipient of our first ever Rising Alumni of the Year prize, presenting him with the award at the Movenpick Hotel in Accra. Tyrone was chosen not only because of his outstanding academic achievements but because of his bravery, a key principle of Rising’s Values. At Rising, we do what’s right, even when it’s difficult or daunting. When others step back, we step up.

Tyrone joins the Rising Team to receive the Rising Alumni of the Year Award. Pictured from left to right: George Cowell, CSO, Isaac Armar Head of Strategy and Operations, Tyrone Marghuy, Afua Dogbatsey, Head of Partnerships, Victor Kpentey, MD Ghana Private Schools, and Paul Skidmore, CEO. 

That same day, Tyrone spoke at Rising’s 10–year anniversary celebration as part of the Global Schools Forum Annual Conference. It was a platform that gave him the chance to speak with an audience of educators that support schools working with 20 million young people across 60 countries. Tyrone spoke of the immense challenges and sadness he’d felt in those months before enrolling at Achimota, but that the pain and sacrifices he and his family had made during that time had been well worth it.

Tyrone making his speech at the Global School Forum Annual Conference, Accra.

Tyrone hasn’t stood still since leaving Senior High School. He is currently using his time to learn Computer Engineering and has applications submitted to a number of top universities in the US, including:  Harvard, MIT,Princeton and Brown.

Following the event, Rising’s CEO Paul Skidmore said, “Tyrone Marhguy is a remarkable young man with a remarkable story. Almost everyone in Ghana knows it, and before long I'm sure the rest of the world will too. It was an honour and a delight to recognise his achievement as an alumnus of our schools in Ghana and to listen to his fantastic speech”.

Tyrone at the GSF Annual Conference, with his mum, twin sisters, and Alex Fallon, Rising’s Chief Academic Officer.

Whatever path Tyrone chooses, we can’t wait to see his next steps. He is and will continue to be an inspiration to young people across Ghana, and we are proud to call him an Alumni of our schools.