GraphoGame (GG) is originally a technology-based intervention method for supporting children with reading difficulties. It is now known that children who face problems in reading acquisition have difficulties in learning to differentiate and manipulate speech sounds and consequently, in connecting these sounds to corresponding letters. GG was developed to provide intensive training in matching speech sounds and larger units of speech to their written counterparts. GG has been shown to benefit children with reading difficulties and the game is now available for all Finnish school children for literacy support. Presently millions of children in Africa fail to learn to read despite years of primary school education. As many African languages have transparent writing systems similar in structure to Finnish, it was hypothesized that GG-based training of letter-sound correspondences could also be effective in supporting children’s learning in African countries. In this article we will describe how GG has been developed from a Finnish dyslexia prevention game to an intervention method that can be used not only to improve children’s reading performance but also to raise teachers’ and parents’ awareness of the development of reading skill and effective reading instruction methods. We will also provide an overview of the GG activities in Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Namibia, and the potential to promote education for all with a combination of scientific research and mobile learning.

Educators in Malawi and Zambia have always been concerned with their student's abilities to become analytical, logical and proficient readers of texts. This has been due to the fear that there is an increased overemphasis on knowledge of the fundamental literacy skills and other basics at the expense of critical thinking. This scenario has resulted into increased criticism of the quality of the educational product in the above countries. Different studies hence have indicated that most students graduate from university in possession of varying amounts of knowledge but without understanding the purpose of that knowledge in the real world. The students' low proficiency in critical literacy skills presents various social, cultural and educational challenges. This is also shown through improper demonstration of these skills in the work place and the social world. Hence, the goal of this study was to investigate the level of critical literacy among university students. The study used the constructivism theory, as in the Paulo Freire's typology and the qualitative design to collect data through in-depth interviews among students from Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources and from University of Zambia. Twenty students were randomly sampled from both universities constituting 40, but only 37 respondents were finally involved due to attrition. The results revealed that most of the responses provided by the students fell in the descriptive or functional phase, the most basic level of critical literacy. These results suggest that universities should do more to promote the higher level of literacy (here after critical literacy) which would make students more rigorous, analytical and better change agents of their worlds and the worlds of others.

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Although the provision of quality early childhood education has been acknowledged as important both in the local and international development literature, there are few books that have been written on early childhood education in Zambia. The current review of a 161 paged A5 paperback bound book entitled “laying the foundation for optimal outcomes in early childhood education” co-authored by Ecloss Munsaka and  Bibian Kalinde is one of the first attempts to scrutinise latest resources on early childhood education challenges and prospects in Zambia. The review is timely as it responds to the recent integration of early childhood education in the mainstream Zambian education system. The review has critically examined chapters’ one up to six. The implications of the book in early childhood education practice in Zambia have been discussed.

Executive functions development has received a considerable amount of attention in the literature and is known to predict a range of social, cognitive and emotional outcomes in both children and adults; however, little is known about factors that contribute to its development in the Zambian context due to the fragmented literature available in Zambia. A literature review was conducted using five electronic databases (University of Zambia Institutional repository, Google scholar, PubMed, BioMed Central and EBSCO Host) to identify factors that affected executive functions in preschool and primary school children in Zambia. This review established that early childhood education, socio-economic status, physical health, and culture as factors that fall under three categories namely research, environmental and biological affect the development of executive functions among children in Zambia. This review suggests that teachers, caregivers and early childhood stakeholders in Zambia need to pay attention to both environmental and biological factors when designing executive function interventions for preschool children. A focus on improving early childhood education, nutrition, access to good quality health care, intensifying appropriate cognitive stimulating parenting and teaching practices that boost EF in public preschool and primary schools is required