inABLE & Google Live Transcribe — AI Live-Captioning Pilot for Deaf Pupils in Kenya

Deaf pupils in Kenyan schools are taught primarily through sign language, but fluency varies widely among both teachers and students, and abstract subjects such as science and mathematics are especially hard to convey without a shared technical vocabulary; teachers report having to repeat instructions or write everything on the board to keep pupils following along.

Pilot AI-driven real-time captioning of teachers' speech to improve comprehension and participation for deaf pupils.

In 2025, Nairobi-based nonprofit inABLE partnered with Google to pilot real-time captioning at Kambui Primary School for the Deaf in Kiambu County. Four classrooms, a computer lab and a common room were equipped with a 65-inch screen, a microphone and a laptop running Google's Live Transcribe app, which converts teachers' speech into text displayed live on the screen.

inABLE reports the pilot reached over 108 students and 15 teachers, logging more than 700 hours of classroom use, with teachers and students describing improved comprehension and participation and less need to repeat instructions.

These outcomes are self-reported by the project lead rather than independently evaluated, and inABLE's own account flags that reliable internet, quality microphones and continuous teacher support are all necessary preconditions that are far from guaranteed in most Kenyan schools. inABLE and Google describe plans to replicate the model elsewhere in Kenya and beyond, but as of this pilot it remains a single-school deployment.