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When the COVID-19 pandemic struck and schools across Africa shut their doors, education went into crisis mode. Teachers scrambled to find ways to keep lessons going, parents worried about learning gaps, and students found themselves in a strange new world of remote learning. Somewhere in the middle of that storm, a small team began building something that would quietly grow into one of the continent’s most teacher-focused education platforms. That is Curri AI, one of the tools driving impact in Nigeria.
The Beginning
“During the lockdown, we saw that schools were trying all sorts of alternative methods to teach,” recalls the founder, Bature Abdullahi Muhammad. In the Zoom interview conducted by the editorial team members of TechPolyp last month, Mr. Bature said, “There was a glaring gap, no proper assessments, no feedback loop. Teachers didn’t know if their students were actually learning. That was where it started for us.”
That “start” was a gamified app, after which the team moved to Schoola AI. Schoola is a platform that allows students to assess themselves. It worked better than anyone expected. One student, the founder, remembers vividly attempting about 500,000 questions before graduating. Schools began contributing their own digital content, which the team packaged in fun and interactive ways for children. But as the months went by, cracks began to show.
“We weren’t being paid enough for the amount of work going in,” he said. “Post-lockdown, it became even harder. Teachers had to teach and still find time to source materials to upload. That’s when we asked ourselves, “What if we made something that took that burden away from them entirely?”
The answer was Curri AI, short for Curriculum AI, a time-saving, content-driven, and context-driven platform designed specifically for African teachers.
Curri AI: Built for Teachers, Grounded in Reality
At its heart, Curri AI is about enabling teachers to create lesson plans that reflect both global best practices and the specific realities of their local classrooms. The platform deals directly with curriculum and standards, integrating what schools have already created rather than imposing foreign content.
“If AI will displace anyone, it will only displace those who don’t upskill,” the founder told the TechPolyp team. “Planes didn’t replace walking; they just got us to our destinations faster. AI will never know your classroom realities, the noise, the interruptions, the cultural nuances. Only the teacher knows that. That’s why our job is to put better tools in their hands, not take their hands away from the work.”
That human-centered philosophy runs through every decision the team makes. The platform even includes a “modern lesson” feature, where teachers can see how colleagues in their locality teach. In the same vein, pedagogy can still align with international teaching methods. “It’s about giving you something that feels familiar,” he explained. However, he contended that this development also pushes you towards better practice.
Curri AI Sails from Grants to Groundwork
Curri AI’s journey from idea to reality has been fueled by a mix of vision and persistence. Added to these sheer determination is also support from some of the world’s leading education and technology partners.
The platform is part of the first cohort of the Mastercard EdTech Fellowship Program. The brand secured $100,000 from Carnegie Mellon University after the team impressed judges with their vision. Partnerships with Co-Creation Hub and international NGOs have allowed the platform to pilot tools in Borno and Maiduguri, aimed at giving out-of-school learners a fighting chance to catch up.
One of its flagship efforts, Curri FLN (Foundational Literacy and Numeracy), focuses on teaching children to read and build core learning skills. There are partnerships with the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) for the FLN project and with NTI-Kaduna to explore how to teach 21st-century learners more effectively.
The numbers are growing: over 2,000 schools onboarded, 300 with their teacher databases fully uploaded. Additionally, there are more than 15,000 teachers, whom the team calls “partners,” active on the platform.
A Context-Driven Approach
What makes Curri AI stand out most is its insistence on context. It’s not a content factory. It’s a platform that integrates what teachers and schools are already creating. “We are context-driven because African classrooms are not the same as those in Europe or the US.” Mallam Bature said. “A teacher in Maiduguri knows their reality better than a teacher in Lekki, and our platform reflects that.”
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That approach extends beyond content to pedagogy. With guidance from Carnegie Mellon University, the platform’s features are designed to align with proven learning science principles. The goal is not only to help teachers teach better. It however helps to do so in ways that resonate with their students’ lived experiences.
Practical Tools for Real Needs
Curri AI has also made sure to handle practical barriers. Payment, for example, has been simplified through integration with Paystack and Flutterwave. “Once you click Paystack, you have all these options, UBA, First Bank, Opay, it’s all embedded,” the founder says.
On the collaboration side, the “Curri for Schools” assistant platform allows Heads of Department to review and comment on lesson plans directly within the system. About 80% of the tools available today came from school recommendations. A teacher-led marketplace for lesson templates and sample notes is in development. This will offer peer-to-peer sharing of high-quality resources.
Challenges on the Road
Despite its progress, building Curri AI has not been without obstacles. “In Africa, schools will spend heavily on cultural days, but when it comes to investing in technology, it’s a different story.” Adoption has been slow in some areas, particularly rural ones where infrastructure is weak and quality education is already scarce.
There is also the challenge of policy, or rather, the lack of it. “There’s no framework for how to build EdTech solutions in Africa,” he notes. “We’re learning as we go.”
Yet, through it all, the team has persisted. “We’ve refused to die,” he said simply. That resilience, he believes, is one of their biggest strengths.
Looking Ahead
The vision for the future is both ambitious and intensely local. In the next five years, Curri AI aims to operate in at least three to five African countries. Each country’s presence with its context, content, and language fully integrated into the platform.
“We want to be the go-to place for local content generation,” the founder says. “If you’re in Kano or Oyo, you’ll find your reality reflected. A teacher in Maiduguri will have tools that make sense for Maiduguri, not for somewhere thousands of miles away.”
Currently, Curri AI operates as a web app, though there is a separate gamified app on the Play Store. A dedicated Curri AI mobile app is under consideration, alongside offline features for rural communities through the FLN project. These features aim to help teachers in areas without reliable internet continue to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes.
Commitment to Standards and Partnerships
Curri AI is NDPR-certified and committed to complying with data protection and ISO certification standards. The team aims to expand partnerships with publishers and HR-focused education platforms. These include EduTams and Kunderkit to broaden the resources available to teachers.
Why Curri AI Matters
The founder is clear on what sets Curri AI apart.“We’ve been at this since 2020, long before AI became the buzzword it is now. Our mission has never been about replacing teachers; it’s about giving them the tools to succeed. Because if curricula are the blueprints for achieving educational goals, then we have to improve those curricula, and we have to do it now.”
His words bring us back to where the conversation started: the human touch. On a continent where education is as much about human connection as it is about academic content, Curri AI is positioning itself as a partner, not a replacement. Its growth is proof that when technology listens first and builds second, it can truly meet people where they are.
