"Education is the passport to the future, because tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today", with this quote from civil rights activist Malcom X, moderator host Ngozi Edeagu concluded the conference debates. At the conference "Innovative Education: Building Bridges for a Better Future" conference organised by the Alumniportal, alumni and education experts spent two days in November discussing current challenges and innovative approaches in presentations, network meetings and workshops. The common goal: to promote inclusive education.
Global differences in education systems and affirmative action
The requirements and education systems differ greatly from country to country, as the keynote speech by Indian activist Raju Kendre impressively demonstrated. He discussed the situation in the USA, Germany, South Africa, Brazil and India. In all of these countries, affirmative action is used to try and eliminate disadvantages in society. Affirmative action means that targeted advantages for disadvantaged groups are used to eliminate their discrimination. Some also refer to the model as positive discrimination. The idea is based on the quote from Malcolm X who said education is the passport to the future.
Raju Kendre is currently conducting research at the Georg August University in Göttingen, Lower Saxony. He is a scholarship holder of the German Chancellor Scholarship Programme of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for prospective leaders from India. The focus of his research work in Germany is a comparison of the science systems in India and Germany. The 31-year-old, who comes from an Indian village, is a pedagogue, social entrepreneur and activist. He founded the Eklavya India Foundation, which aims to give young people from disadvantaged social groups access to higher education.
Equal opportunities through government support
Kendre spoke about the impact of government support on diversity, equality and inclusion. He looked at the situation in different countries: The US, for example, where higher education is becoming more diverse. Or in Germany, where immigrants and refugees are being integrated into the education system. He also reported on the education situation in India, where the old caste system still leads to discrimination. Throughout the world, affirmative action aims to eliminate discrimination by providing benefits. India, for example, has the oldest affirmative action programme in the world. The state gives the most disadvantaged groups seats in parliament, government jobs, university places and access to higher education.
Challenges and visions for inclusive education
Kendre's keynote speech focused on how government efforts in education can create equal opportunities for all, regardless of background. But he also highlighted the injustices that still exist. For example, he believes that Indians living in the US receive better support there than in their home country. He believes that the widespread poverty in India could be overcome through quality education. To this end, Kendre is working on a vision for a new interdisciplinary university in central India that would be accessible to previously marginalised social groups. Kendre's educational philosophy is therefore influenced by his background. His career path is an example of the opportunities created by quality education. He also emphasised the importance of parents, who can play a major role in their children's academic success, even if they are economically disadvantaged.
Artificial intelligence as an opportunity for the educational landscape
In a subsequent panel discussion, the conference continued with the question of how to address existing inequalities in education. The focus was not on funding programmes, but on the opportunities offered by new technologies such as artificial intelligence. Moderator Ngozi Edeagu, from Nigeria, is an education expert herself and a member of the management team of HundrED, an organisation that seeks and investigates innovation in education. Edeagu pointed out that at HundrED's Global Collection 2025 awards, held just before the conference, the majority of the 100 most impactful innovations in education had a focus on technology and AI.
Education as a privilege: Global perspectives on digital education
The panellists were Virna Julisa López Castro from Honduras, Diana Knodel from Germany and Chinedu Isagbah from Nigeria. All three are exploring the possibilities of digital technologies in education in their home countries. Virna Julisa López Castro is a professor at UNAH University in Honduras, where she is involved in various research projects. Diana Knodel founded the startup fobizz and App Camps, which aim to bring AI and digital tools into schools. And Chinedu Isagbah is the founder of the Greater Nigeria Initiative, which aims to improve education in Nigeria through various initiatives and projects.
He is also an education expert and programme coordinator of the CAIN Educational Foundation. This foundation supports underprivileged children in Nigeria. His contribution portrayed existential problems in his home country due to a lack of access to schooling: 10.2 million children of primary school age and a further 8.1 million children of secondary school age have never attended school. He sees this as an existential threat to Nigeria’s progress and stability. He described how he is attempting to solve the problem by means of a community-led approach. Mayors or local officials, religious leaders and parents are involved in eliminating obstacles to pupils’ learning. This could for instance include enabling children, especially in rural areas, to gain access to a school or even to obtain their parents’ permission to do so. Education is often difficult in a multiethnic and multilingual country like Nigeria. He has had to tread on a few toes to make progress.
Digital education in Germany: a lack of IT skills in schools
Diana Knodel used the panel discussion to describe quite different problems relating to the education system in Germany. Her company App Camps pursues the objective of introducing IT capabilities into schools. Knodel arranges online training sessions for teachers. She would like to increase the amount of programming and computer science in German schools. There continue to be fewer women working in the technology sector in Germany. ‘Germany is certainly a country of engineers but is lagging behind in terms of technology within the education system’ stated the entrepreneur. The sad fact is that by no means every child has access to a computer even in a highly developed country like Germany. She is attempting to advance the digitisation of classrooms. It is therefore important to start with the teachers; for instance, by means of professional development.
Gender inequality: educational barriers for girls in Honduras
The extent of differences between countries and continents when it comes to problems in education was also demonstrated by the third panellist, Virna Julisa López Castro. This professor at the National Autonomous University of Honduras described how males in her home country are given preferential treatment over females in terms of education. Girls are certainly permitted to attend primary school, albeit the probability that they will have to break off their schooling and work is significantly higher than among boys. This unequal treatment extends throughout education in Honduras. ‘Being female is the most significant factor that restricts access to higher education in Honduras’, said López Castro. The matter of primary importance is therefore not talent, but rather gender.
Promoting critical thinking in the age of AI
The three panellists thus discussed access to education in their countries based on very different prerequisites. Whereas in Nigeria it is basically a struggle for children to gain access to schooling, discrimination against girls is a key problem in Honduras and in Germany it is the inequity in the provision of technical equipment. Despite these stark differences, all three discussion panellists addressed the issue of whether computer technology or AI could become a silver bullet – or whether it would conversely cause new issues because of an overreliance. Diana Knodel argued for continued teaching of critical thinking in the age of AI. Those learning – mostly students– should more than ever question the correctness of information. López Castro from Honduras agreed with that unreservedly. She demands that her students question everything. Regarding the situation in Nigeria, Isagbah observed that the use of AI was often not even a topic in Nigeria, since the digital literacy level in the country was less than 50 per cent. AI could however also be useful as a learning assistant.
Digital tools and global education initiatives for a better future
In addition to the inspiring keynote addresses and panel discussion, the ‘Inclusive and Digital Education Solutions’ workshop, run in collaboration with the ISA Alumni Network on the second day of the conference, provided a platform for developing practical approaches to the furtherance of inclusive education. The participating experts from different countries joined several working groups to discuss core challenges and potential solutions based on digital technologies.
This for instance included discussion regarding the lack of digital infrastructure and the high costs in many regions. The participants suggested the promotion of investment in digital classrooms and offline learning platforms by means of public and private partnerships. Especially emphasised was the necessity for sufficient teacher training and the integration of digital skills into the curricula. For example in the working group ‘Opportunities and challenges in integrating digital tools in environmental education’, led by Mmachukwu Obimdike. Here the fundamental problems of African states played a part. Obimdike is currently studying at the University of Greifswald. Yet she comes from Nigeria and sees problematic prerequisites for digitisation there, as in other African countries. How are advances based on technology supposed to succeed in rural areas when there is no electricity or internet to operate devices, Obimdike asked. She believes that a massive financial commitment would be required to achieve progress in such regions. There is a need for urgent investment in hardware and software. Support with digitisation would be required, in the same way that the climate conference in Baku resolved to support the developing countries with climate protection.
The conference impressively demonstrated how alumni act as global education experts to develop innovative approaches, improve education opportunities and promote sustainable development. From inspiring presentations to practice-oriented workshops, it became clear that global collaboration and the targeted deployment of digital tools are the key to inclusive education.
The Alumniportal Deutschland and the ISA Alumni Network used this event to create a valuable arena for the exchange of ideas. The outcomes from the conference not only provide impetus for potential education initiatives – they also send a strong signal: education is the enabler for a more just and sustainable world, and each of us can contribute to building bridges in this respect. .