Streamlining certification with verifiable credentials using Sunbird RC.

Key Metrics

User Population Reached:

Potentially millions of students across Nigeria.

Number of Data Records:

Potentially millions of student records and certificates.

Background

Data Science Nigeria partnered with Tekdi Technologies to revolutionize their education system. Facing challenges in issuing certificates during the COVID-19 pandemic, they sought a solution to minimize human intervention and streamline the process. Tekdi leveraged the Sunbird RC DPG to create a system for generating verifiable credentials, drastically improving efficiency and accessibility for students across Nigeria. This initiative has significantly impacted the educational landscape, enabling faster verification and promoting trust in educational documents.

Problem Statement & Objectives

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed a critical vulnerability in Nigeria's education system: the inability to issue certificates due to movement restrictions. Data Science Nigeria needed a solution that would eliminate reliance on manual processes and enable the seamless generation of educational credentials, regardless of external disruptions. Their objectives included:

  • Minimizing human intervention in certificate generation.

  • Streamlining the certification process to reduce turnaround time.

  • Providing students with easy access to their digital certificates.

  • Ensuring the verifiability of credentials for institutions and employers.

Approach & Process Followed

Tekdi Technologies addressed the challenge by leveraging the Sunbird RC (Registry and Credentials) DPG, a robust and scalable solution previously used in large-scale projects like CoWIN. This DPG offered the necessary framework for creating a verifiable credential system. The approach involved:

  • DPG Selection: Choosing Sunbird RC for its proven scalability, reliability, and open-source nature, which allows for community-driven improvements.

  • System Design: Implementing a maker-checker model where authorized personnel upload and approve results before certificates are generated.

  • Workflow Automation: Automating the generation and assignment of digital certificates to students, minimizing manual intervention.

  • Accessibility: Enabling students to easily download and share their verifiable credentials with educational institutions, employers, or other relevant parties.

  • Verifiability: Ensuring that issued credentials can be easily verified by authorized entities, increasing trust and reducing fraudulent claims.

  • Community Contribution: Actively participating in the open-source community, contributing to the improvement and robustness of the Sunbird RC DPG.

Outcomes

Streamlined Certificate Generation:

The automated system drastically reduced the time required to issue certificates, improving efficiency for the Ministry of Education and reducing delays for students.

Enhanced Accessibility

Students gained easy access to their digital certificates, eliminating the need for physical copies and simplifying the sharing process.

Increased Trust and Verifiability

The use of verifiable credentials ensured that certificates could be easily authenticated, reducing fraud and increasing trust in the education system.

Scalability and Reusability

The solution, built on a DPG, is scalable to accommodate the entire student population of Nigeria and can be adapted for other domains requiring verifiable credentials.

Impact Achieved in terms of

Business Impact:

Improved efficiency and reduced administrative overhead for the Ministry of Education.

User Impact:

Empowered students with easy access to verifiable credentials, simplifying applications for further education and employment.

Tech Stack

Sunbird RC DPG