Inaugural Africa Inclusive Education Forum: Advancing Inclusive Education Through Digital and Intelligent Technologies

[Beijing, China, August 22, 2025] The Global Smart Education Conference 2025 was held in Beijing from August 18 to 20, 2025, with over 30 participants from African countries – including Egypt, Algeria, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Cameroon – among them education ministry officials, ministry representatives, and university partners. During the event, Huawei hosted the inaugural African Inclusive Education Forum and also signed Memorandums of Understanding or Letter of Intent on educational cooperation with multiple African countries, focusing on advancing inclusive education through digital and intelligent technologies and joint ecosystem development.

Inaugural African Inclusive Education Forum

Digital and intelligent innovations in education have unlocked new possibilities for personalized learning and resource optimization. Applying these digital-intelligent advancements to inclusive education can further break down geographical and resource barriers, ensuring equitable access to high-quality education for every group and truly realizing the humanistic value of technology-enabled empowerment. In his welcome address, Ye Ziping, Vice President and Chief Digital Officer of Huawei Northern Africa, expressed sincere welcome to distinguished guests from Africa, and stated that Huawei is committed to joining hands with partners to utilize the most advanced technology and design targeted inclusive education solutions based on the current situation in Africa, ensuring that everyone has equal access to education.

Embracing the wave of digital and intelligent development in education, Peter Zhang, Vice President of Global Public Sector BU and Director of Global Public Sector Marketing and Solution Sales Department of Huawei, noted that ICT talent development is the key. Over the past decade, Huawei has served over 7,800 educational institutions across more than 120 countries, partnered with over 3,000 universities worldwide to establish Huawei ICT Academies, and trained over one million students. Huawei will continue to work with partners to develop innovative solutions powered by next-generation information technologies and to drive high-quality development in the education sector.

Professor Wu Yonghe, Director of CELTSC (China E-Learning Technology Standardization Committee of Ministry of Education) and Professor at East China Normal University, shared China’s explorations and practices in digital and intelligent education development. He noted that national policies and local detailed rules are being advanced in synergy, with digital and intelligent infrastructure as the cornerstone, to deepen the integration of AI technology into education. AI has been deeply integrated into the entire teaching process, benefiting tens of millions of teachers and students, and driving comprehensive improvements in educational quality.

Liu Yue, Director of Inclusive Education at Huawei Northern Africa, emphasized that in the face of challenges such as a shortage of educational resources and underdeveloped infrastructure in Africa, Huawei’s end-to-end (E2E) "device-pipe-cloud-intelligence" solutions – including smart classrooms, affordable cloud terminals, campus connectivity solutions, and integrated cloud-intelligence solutions – will break down classroom boundaries, promote educational equity and enhance quality, help realize the global goal of "universal access to quality education," and accelerate the digital-intelligent transformation of education. A smart education company introduced the AI digital teacher and shared the latest practical achievements in AI-driven educational intelligence. By leveraging AI, the initiative aims to better facilitate the sharing of high-quality resources and the personalized development of students, thereby accelerating the digital and intelligent transformation of education.

During the event, on behalf of the Ministry of Higher Education and University Affairs of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Minister Prof. Dr SOMBO AYANNE SAFI MUKUNA Marie-Thérèse signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Huawei, focusing on areas such as digital infrastructure development for universities, the development of smart classrooms and online learning platforms, enhancing the digital capabilities of teachers and students, and educational and research cooperation. The two parties also plan to establish a joint innovation lab in the DRC to cultivate young talent adapted to the digital era. Meanwhile, on behalf of the Ministry of National Education of Senegal, Mr. Moustapha Mamba GUIRASSY, signed an MoU with Sonatel and Huawei to deepen cooperation in digital teaching equipment, digital infrastructure, and talent cultivation, driving the digital transformation of Senegal’s national education and advancing inclusive education.

Democratic Republic of the Congo's Ministry of Higher Education and University Affairs Signed LOI with Huawei

Senegal's Ministry of National Education, Sonatel, and Huawei Signed MoU

During the event, education ministry officials and university customers from Africa visited showcases in education industry in Beijing, Shenzhen, and Dongguan, conducting in-depth exchanges with Chinese peers. Currently, ICT is fueling educational equity and innovation, and Huawei is committed to working with partners and clients to advance educational equity through digital technologies in Africa.