A British company is using artificial intelligence (AI)-powered English lessons to fix education gaps around the world.
Education First (EF) launched its AI spin-off, Efekta Education Group, in 2022, working with the Brazilian government to bring English lessons to state schools. Since then, they’ve expanded to Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Rwanda. In 2026, Efekta started a one-year AI language learning programme with Somaliland, Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda.
Nick Clegg, former deputy prime minister of the UK and Meta’s former president of global affairs, joined the advisory board this year.
Currently, Efekta is live in Brazil, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Rwanda, with pilots in 15 other countries. It sells its product at the “cost of a textbook” – $5 per student annually.
“We never built this technology with an intent to sell it,” said CEO Stephen Hodges at a media roundtable event in London.
Initially, the AI agent was built for EF schools, but when it was approached by the Brazilian government to help fix the teacher shortage, it created Efekta.
According to a report from the British Council, 95% of Brazilians don’t speak English. Once the software was released, Efekta said the average student did “25 to 30% better” on state tests.
Running without internet
The full product requires good internet access, which led to Efekta building a model that could run without internet, and update when connected in Rwanda and rural Brazilian schools.
Clegg applauded Efekta for appealing to emerging markets, calling the classes a “dramatic democratisation of high-quality education”.
Hodges said that AI in education will be pioneered by emerging markets because they have “the most to gain” and “very few options”.
The benefit of these emerging markets is also their scale. “The more data you’ve got, the more you can optimise your education,” the CEO explained.
“You can’t pretend it isn’t a data-driven technology,” said Clegg. “That is what it is. Otherwise, it just doesn’t work. Data is its fuel.”
Beyond English language lessons, Efekta hopes to expand to teaching STEM subjects.
“If you can immerse kids in a subject, it’s much easier to teach them about it than it is staring at a dry textbook,” said Clegg.
‘Dry textbook’
However, some countries are trying to bring back the “dry textbook”.
Sweden – once the world leader in educational technology – is now pushing technology out of the classroom. A BBC report found that the government was mandating textbook-based learning from 2028. The policy change comes after almost a quarter of Swedish students aged 15-16 failed to reach a basic standard of reading comprehension in 2022.
As to guardrails surrounding political risks, “those conversations have not come up”, said Hodges. Instead, Efekta promised it would follow each country’s national guidelines for curriculums, and operate in line with General Data Protection Regulation principles.
“Student privacy and safety are fundamental to how we’ve built the platform,” he said. “The data we do collect is strictly limited to learning outcomes. We look at whether a student is progressing – for example, if they are completing their tasks, how they are performing, and where they may need additional support.”
Outside of student welfare exceptions “such as indications of self-harm or distress” – where issues may be elevated to teachers – conversations between pupils and the AI chatbot are not recorded.
“All the classes will have a human teacher at the heart of it, and the teacher remains in control,” said Hodges.