Karibu — AI-Assisted French-Language Learning Pilot for Teachers in Dakar and Thiès, Senegal

Karibu is an AI-powered language-learning application piloted in Senegal to help teachers strengthen their mastery of French, the country's official language of instruction, even though only a minority of teachers and pupils speak it as a first language. The pilot is funded by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and implemented with the NGO Bibliothèques Sans Frontières, the social enterprise Kajou and the research lab Pleias, in partnership with Senegal's Ministry of Education.

The application is built on a 'frugal' open-weight language model with seven billion parameters, chosen for Senegal's connectivity and cost constraints rather than a large proprietary model. It generates practice exercises matched to each user's level and stated interests, and gives detailed, individual feedback on users' written French. The initial pilot ran from February to March 2025 with thirty elementary-school teachers in Dakar and Thiès.

As of this review, AFD had not yet published outcome data from the pilot; the partners describe it as an early test phase and say they are 'really looking forward to getting [teachers'] feedback' before deciding on wider rollout.

Plans for expansion include adding oral-conversation practice and versions of the app in Senegal's national languages — Wolof, Pulaar, Serer, Diola, Mandingo and Soninke — which would extend the tool beyond French-mastery support toward broader mother-tongue and multilingual education equity.