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54 The Economist January 28th 2023 International Teacher training Education in a can “Good job you!” shouts Pauline Bika, as a group of schoolchildren com- pletes the hokey­cokey. “Good job me!” choruses her class. Ms Bika runs a small government primary school in Edo state, in southern Nigeria. It is reached by a mud track that starts not far outside Benin City, the state capital. Her school has 140 pupils, but only three teachers. She seems both pleased and a little embarrassed to offer a visitor a plastic chair. For all that it lacks, Ms Bika’s school has one advantage. At the start of last year the state education ministry gave each of her teachers a small tablet with a black­and- white touch screen. Every two weeks they use it to download detailed scripts that guide each lesson they deliver. These scripts tell the teachers what to say, what to write on the blackboard, and even when to walk around the classroom. Ms Bika says this new way of working is saving teachers time that they used to spend scribbling their own lesson plans—and her pupils are reading better, too. That is sorely needed, for much of the education given in much of the world is strikingly bad. Across the developing world many schoolchildren learn very lit- tle, even when they spend years in class. Less than half of kids in low­ and middle- income countries are able to read a short passage by the time they finish primary school, according to the World Bank. Across sub­Saharan Africa, as few as 10% can (see chart on next page). Experiments like those under way in Nigeria mark one attempt to improve things. They also face fierce opposition from critics who are con- vinced they mark a wrong turn. The reforms in Edo began in 2018. God- win Obaseki, the state governor, says that poor schools are one reason youngsters have often left the state for greener pas- tures (some fall victim to people­traffick- ers promising better lives in Europe). Since then, the government has provided tablets and training to more than 15,000 teachers. They in turn have given the new lessons to more than 300,000 children, most of them in primary schools. On any given day pu- pils throughout the state receive identical lessons, as dictated by the tablet. The training and technology are provid- ed by NewGlobe, an education company founded in 2007 by three Americans (Pitchbook, a data firm, valued the compa- ny at $250m following a funding round in 2016). NewGlobe developed its approach while running a chain of low­cost private schools, mostly in Kenya, under the brand “Bridge International Academies”. A study by academics including Michael Kremer, a development economist at the University of Chicago, found that, over two years, children who attended NewGlobe’s prim- ary schools made gains equivalent to al- most a whole year of extra schooling, com- pared with their peers in other schools. F is for factory Though Edo was the first state in Nigeria to strike a deal with the firm, NewGlobe’s ap- proach has since also been applied in La- gos, the country’s biggest city. The firm is starting work in Manipur, a state in north- eastern India, and in Rwanda. Around a million children are now studying in class- rooms that use NewGlobe’s model—far more than its private schools have ever been able to reach. Although it seems able to find plenty of clients, the company provokes ferocious arguments among educators. Its private schools have long faced energetic opposi- tion from trade unions and some interna- tional NGOs, many of whom hate the idea of profit­seeking companies playing any role in education. Others resent the appli- cation of mass production to what they see as a skilled, artisanal profession. BE NIN CITY Children learn too little at too many schools. Tightly scripted, pre­baked lessons could help 012