Renaissance Philanthropy and the Gates Foundation launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) teacher coaching programme Tuesday targeting Sub-Saharan Africa, with Ghana among the first countries to deploy the technology.
The initiative, called Strengthening Teacher Effectiveness and Practice with AI (STEP-AI), channels funding to two organisations working to close the gap between evidence-based teaching methods and actual classroom practice across the region.
Rising Academies, in partnership with TeachFX, will pilot an audio-based coaching system in Ghana that captures classroom audio and delivers personalised feedback to teachers through WhatsApp. The system aims to increase the frequency of coaching support without requiring additional in-person supervisory visits. A dashboard aggregating classroom data will help coaches identify where targeted follow-up is most needed.
The second grantee, Room to Read, will adapt a video-based AI coaching tool already piloted in India for deployment in South Africa. Teachers upload classroom recordings or self-reflection forms to receive personalised feedback, while coaches access consolidated insights across schools to prioritise their visits.
Kumar Garg, President of Renaissance Philanthropy, said: “Teachers are one of the most important factors in a child’s education.”
The urgency behind STEP-AI is well documented. Across Sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 90% of 10-year-olds are not yet reading proficiently. High supervisor-to-teacher ratios, limited infrastructure, and uneven pedagogical expertise mean that feedback to teachers is often delayed, infrequent, or generic, leaving classroom practice disconnected from what the research recommends.
STEP-AI technology is designed to analyse classroom interactions in real time, assess how well teachers implement structured lesson plans, and generate actionable coaching insights. The programme prioritises open-source tools and publicly available assets so findings benefit the wider education sector, not only participating schools.
Renaissance Philanthropy and The Learning Agency will support both grantee teams through implementation, evidence generation, and the production of public goods for the broader field.
