Rwanda, ALX, and Anthropic Launch "Chidi" to Build AI-Ready Classrooms Across Africa
Kigali, Rwanda - November 17, 2025
ALX, Anthropic, and the Government of Rwanda have partnered to bring "Chidi," an AI-powered learning companion built on Anthropic's Claude model, to learners and teachers across Africa. The goal is simple: raise teaching quality, strengthen critical thinking, and prepare a workforce that can compete globally-starting with a national pilot in Rwanda.
The collaboration supports Rwanda's Vision 2050 and focuses on practical outcomes: better lesson design, faster feedback loops, and measurable gains in student engagement. It also sets clear guardrails for privacy, safety, and responsible use.
What Chidi Does
Chidi works as a learning companion that prompts curiosity and structured thinking instead of handing out direct answers. For teachers, it serves as a planning partner to draft lessons, activities, and assessments. For learners, it offers round-the-clock guidance that builds confidence and problem-solving skills.
Phase 2: A Public Education Pilot With Real Scale
After a strong Phase 1 rollout at ALX-more than 1,100 conversations and 4,000 chats in two days-Phase 2 extends the pilot into Rwanda's public education system. Up to 2,000 educators and a select group of civil servants will join ALX's AI Career Essentials program for hands-on training with Claude, focusing on better lesson planning, formative feedback, and day-to-day productivity.
Graduates of the pilot receive a year of access to Claude tools, including Claude Pro for individuals and Claude Code for developer teams in government. University faculty will explore Claude for Education, ensuring continued adoption in classrooms and administrative workflows.
A joint working group-ALX, Anthropic, and the Government of Rwanda-will capture lessons learned to inform Rwanda's national AI policy in education. Future work includes "Chidi for Schools" and localized African language models.
Funding and Responsibilities
- Anthropic: Covers LLM/API-related costs for Chidi and Claude access.
- ALX: Provides training, delivery, and implementation support to enable a smooth rollout.
- Government of Rwanda (Ministries of Education and ICT): Offers policy guidance, institutional support, and access to schools. There is no financial commitment for the government under this partnership.
The partners will explore options to expand in Rwanda and to additional African markets based on evidence from the pilot.
Why This Matters for Government Leaders
- Teaching quality: Reduce prep time, improve lesson clarity, and expand formative feedback without increasing workload.
- Safeguards by design: Privacy, academic integrity, and safe deployment are built into the pilot, with clear usage policies and oversight.
- Civil service capability: Practical AI skills for research, drafting, data analysis, and citizen services-focused on productivity and compliance.
- Policy learning: A structured way to test, measure, and refine national AI-in-education guidelines, including interoperability and local language support.
- Evidence first: Track inputs and outcomes-lesson prep time saved, student engagement, and learning results-to guide scale-up decisions.
Partner Perspectives
Fred Swaniker, Founder and CEO of ALX, emphasized that the partnership moves young Africans from consumers to creators in AI-through inquiry-led learning that develops critical thinking, creativity, and practical problem-solving at scale.
"We believe transformative AI should be accessible to learners across the world, regardless of geography. By partnering with ALX and the Rwandan government, we're ensuring Claude's capabilities strengthen education safely and responsibly across several countries in Africa," said Elizabeth Kelly, Head of Beneficial Deployments at Anthropic.
Joseph Nsengimana, Rwanda's Minister of Education, noted that Chidi helps teachers reclaim time for high-value tasks-lesson preparation and personalized feedback-while boosting student curiosity. He added that the pilot will be judged on measurable gains, with strong protections for privacy and academic integrity.
"Rwanda's Vision 2050 places youth and technology at the core of national progress, and our goal is to build a workforce equipped for the opportunities of the 21st century. This collaboration allows us to explore innovative AI tools that could enhance learning, support educators, and strengthen developer capabilities. By beginning with capacity building for civil servants, we ensure our workforce gains the foundational skills to engage with emerging technologies responsibly," said Paula Ingabire, Minister of ICT & Innovation.
What Comes Next
The pilot will inform policy, standards, and training models that other countries can adapt. Rwanda serves as the launch hub, with a clear path to scale based on results, readiness, and safeguards.
For government teams planning their own AI upskilling tracks-especially those working with Claude-consider an independent Claude certification to accelerate adoption while maintaining compliance.
About the Partners
ALX: A career transformation organization building an ecosystem of tech and creative leaders across Africa. ALX equips young professionals with skills, networks, and global opportunities, connecting employers to top talent.
Anthropic: An AI safety and research company creating reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. Its flagship product is Claude, a large language model used by millions. Learn more at anthropic.com.
Government of Rwanda: A continental leader in digital transformation and youth empowerment. Through Vision 2050 and targeted investments in education and AI policy, Rwanda continues to advance a knowledge-based economy.
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