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Good practice Imported

Nomfundo AI — Schools Online Foundation's AI Teaching Assistant in Eswatini Schools

Eswatini · Mbabane · See the Eswatini profile · See the Mbabane profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 89% 27/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Schools Online Foundation's Nomfundo AI chatbot, trained on Eswatini's syllabus, has helped teachers draft lessons and tests in eight schools since 2024. The foundation reports improved results, but the teachers' union says the sector isn't ready.

8 schools
Schools using Nomfundo (early 2024) (early 2024)
~50,000 SZL (Emalangeni)
Reported running costs (2024)

Details

Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
Schools Online Foundation, with the Eswatini Ministry of Education and Training
Period
training from August 2023; operating since January 2024
Keywords
AI teaching assistant, chatbot, lesson and test preparation, low-resource schools, cautionary case

Context

The Schools Online Foundation, an Eswatini education NGO working with the Ministry of Education and Training, began training an AI chatbot called Nomfundo in August 2023 on the national syllabus, rolling it out from the week of 19 January 2024 at Evelyn Baring, Salesian and Somnjalose High Schools. Nomfundo answers questions in a conversational, speech-enabled interface, helps teachers draft lesson plans and tests, and assists students with essay composition, marking guidance, siSwati translation, and life-skills and guidance-and-counselling content aligned to the Eswatini curriculum.

Activities

By early 2024 the platform had expanded to eight schools.

Results

Foundation director Lungelo Dlamini said schools using Nomfundo saw end-of-year results 'improve tremendously' — a claim reported by the Times of Eswatini but not independently verified or backed by published data.

Conclusions

Dlamini also acknowledged the model is 'costly': at roughly E50,000 in running costs, some richer features such as diagrams and video have already been disabled to save money, and expansion to rural schools is on hold pending further funding. The rollout has drawn public pushback: the Swaziland National Association of Teachers said the education sector 'is not ready' for the tool, and a University of Eswatini lecturer warned that premature reliance on AI without adequate safeguards risks weakening institutional capacity in under-resourced systems. The practice is included as an honestly-flagged, still-unverified early deployment rather than a proven model.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — Running costs of roughly E50,000 described as costly by the foundation director; richer features (diagrams, video) already disabled to save money, and rural expansion is on hold pending further funding.
Time to results
Short (< 1 year) — AI chatbot trained on syllabus from August 2023; operating in 3 schools from 19 January 2024, expanding to 8 schools by early 2024.
Staffing & skills
Run by Schools Online Foundation with the Eswatini Ministry of Education and Training, Teachers use Nomfundo to draft lesson plans and tests; students use it for essay composition and marking guidance

Conditions for success

  • Training on the national syllabus (from August 2023) before rollout
  • Adequate teacher/student technology literacy and training — explicitly flagged as lacking here

Common failure modes

  • Swaziland National Association of Teachers says the sector 'is not ready': many teachers/students lack basic technology familiarity and training
  • University of Eswatini lecturer warned premature AI reliance without safeguards risks weakening institutional capacity
  • Running costs (~E50,000) forced disabling of richer features (diagrams, video) and put rural expansion on hold
  • Improvement claims not independently verified or backed by published data

Where it fits

Governance type
NGO-run in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Training
Scale
8 schools as of early 2024; rural expansion on hold
Income level
low-income, under-resourced school system

Commonly funded by

Philanthropic / foundation funding

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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