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The Man Behind the Genius Idea of Education 21



By Tabitha Makumi & Robert Zenhausern at Enabling Support Foundation

What are your fondest memories on early education? For most people, it’s their favourite teacher who instilled discipline in them, for others it’s a favourite subject which they loved at an early age. We all have a relationship with education and it’s our job to ensure the younger generation gets the idea of how important education is. 

Enabling Support Foundation (ESF) has been on the frontline of ensuring children are learning even when the times are hard such as during the COVID 19 lockdown, lack of school fees and many hurdles that curtail the development of young minds in early reading. 

What has the Enabling Support Foundation (ESF) done to ensure children in early education continue learning during such times? 

With an academic background in a strong computer networking orientation, Robert Zenhausern is the genius behind Education 21, a program which enables children in Kenya and Uganda with the ability to read and write an early age. 

What’s Education 21 all about? 

Education 21 starts with Kusoma (aka Early Reading) because it has the most impact on education and educators. 

At the school closing we had 50 schools with 17,000 students involved in Kenya and Uganda.   

What’s your background in education? 

I come from an academic background with a strong computer networking orientation.  In 1980 I published a paper showing that you can know the meaning of a word even if you cannot say it.  It was aimed at dyslexia.  In 1990 I published a paper on Education for the 21st Century.  You can see that paper and its evolution over 30 years. 

What has Enabling Staff Foundation (ESF) done differently to stand out in the education sector? 

ESF has encouraged teachers to contact parents and show them how to teach their children.  When we started in 2017 nursery school children were reading and writing in 4 months.  This was the first time we had tried this and were creating the classroom tactics on the spot. 

Has there been improvement where Education 21 has been applied? 

We have improved our approach and parents are saying their children are reading in a month.  One mother said her son learned in a week. 

The important point is that children can move 2 years ahead in Education.  Perhaps more importantly, parents can teach their children reading and writing as they now teach listening and speaking.

To learn more about Enabling Support Foundation, visit our website at Education21

Don't forget to donate to Enabling Support Foundation through a GoFund Me Fundraising Campaign to support equality in education across the globe

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