Mwabu Learn in action at Hetty Denen School

Hetty Denen school in Kafue is a stellar example of how strong, dedicated and passionate leadership combined with committed and enthusiastic teachers can improve learner outcomes. Last Monday (23 June 2025) Mr Sikasunda set time aside in his busy day to welcome Charity Wakalika (Mwabu’s project manager) and Jessica Kellerman (Mwabu’s product manager). They had the opportunity to discuss the successes and challenges the school has experienced with use of Mwabu content over the past two months with both Mr Sikasunda and Mr Sikanyika.

Each of the five schools involved in the EPIC pilot project received 8 smartphones loaded with Mwabu Learn content and 4 portable projectors. These are shared between teachers on a rotational basis. At Hetty Denen each teacher presents at least one digital lesson a day. Teachers received initial training from Mwabu the last week of March, strengthened by further technical support from Mr Elias Sikanyika, the teacher coordinating the project. Since the Mwabu digital lessons were introduced at the start of term 2 in May Mr Willard Sikasunda (Headteacher at Hetty Denen) has noticed a significant improvement in both attendance and motivation among teachers and learners.

With 1,250 learners taught in two shifts by 8 teachers, this school is making the most of their limited resources to improve learning outcomes. We were privileged to observe a grade 3 lesson presented by Ms Pricilla Chali to her morning class of ±50 learners. Ms Chali hung cloth in front of the class windows to darken the room and set up the projector on a chair at the front of the class with learners gathered on the mat around it. The lesson was expertly and confidently presented and the learners enthusiastically participated by answering questions and reading some of the slides projected onto a hanging white cloth.

Visits such as these give Mwabu the opportunity to improve how we support teachers. We are working on better solutions for projector placement and a projector screen solution that provides a smooth surface when nothing will stick to a chalk board.

With willingness to try new teaching tools and an enthusiasm for always improving, the staff at Hetty Denen are an inspiration! We look forward to working with them to pilot the Mwabu attendance app as well as a quick digital assessment tool – both aimed at simplifying teachers’ administrative tasks to give them more productive teaching time.

In addition to the Mwabu Learn content and blended learning approaches introduced through World Vision’s Experimental Prototype Internet Connectivity (EPIC) project, the school is involved in several improvement projects at various levels. These include a school readiness programme for ECE learners (supported by ZOCS), Catch Up for grade 3 to 5 learners to improve literacy and numeracy and a programme to engage out of school learners (both supported by VVOB) as well as parent and community engagement programmes (supported by World Vision Zambia).