Cardano and Ethiopia’s Partnership Ready for the Implementation Phase

Cardano Input Output Honk Kong (IOHK) is ready for the implementation phase of its partnership agreement with the Ethiopian Ministry of Education in using blockchains to improve the Ethiopian education system.

The announcement of readiness for this phase was made in a video released last week via its official YouTube channel. According to the agreement, Cardano will help create a blockchain-based digital identity for 5 million students and teachers in Ethiopia.

IOHK will create a national attainment recording system for the ministry using Atala PRISM built on top of Cardano to enable the Ministry of Education to monitor school performance, review grades, and promote nationwide education.

In the video released, John O’Connor, the director of African operations at Input Output, gave a quick update on the progress they’ve made on the partnership project and talked about a few things they have coming up.

Speaking on the project, he explained that the input-output team had been diligently working with the Ethiopian government to integrate the national attainment recording system with national identity systems and national data protection laws.

He further stated they are currently moving into the implementation phase of the system and that the input-output team has been with the Ministry of Education in Addis Ababa and other regions since last month, working with educational institutions to onboard and train students, schoolmasters, mistresses, and teachers in the use of the platform.

The training is expected to be completed this month, and IOHK will begin rolling out the platform live to students over the next 8 weeks, aiming to have between 1 to 2 million students fully on board by the end of this year. He also said he hopes to get 5 million students on board, which is within the framework of the partnership deals.

In April 2021, John O’Connor also spoke about the importance of the system. He said it will also “provide all students with blockchain-verified digital qualifications to reduce fraudulent university and job applications and increase social mobility by allowing employers to verify all applicants’ grades without third-party agencies.”

Furthermore, the company has launched an incubator accelerator to build the next generation of real finance and decentralized finance companies. It is currently available for signup for new businesses and startups looking on Cardano Africa.