Last updated 6 months ago
Ethiopian schools use paper records that are easily lost or falsified, limiting students’ access to opportunities.
EduChain Lite anchors school records on Cardano, giving students tamper-proof, portable histories and enabling schools and verifiers to issue and confirm records securely and quickly
This is the total amount allocated to EduChain: A Decentralized Education Record System for School.
Please provide your proposal title
EduChain: A Decentralized Education Record System for School
Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA
49500
Please specify how many months you expect your project to last
6
Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated
No
Original Language
en
What is the problem you want to solve?
Ethiopian schools use paper records that are easily lost or falsified, limiting students’ access to opportunities.
Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?
Yes
Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'
We will engaging with a cluster of secondary schools and a local education bureau to co-design and test the system with real or sample student data
Will your project's outputs be fully open source?
Yes
License and Additional Information
Smart contracts, record templates, web dashboards, and documentation will be released on GitHub under a permissive license, allowing replication across Ethiopia and beyond.
Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal.
Authentication
Describe what makes your idea innovative compared to what has been previously funded (whether by you or others).
EduChain Lite is innovative because it directly solves a real, everyday challenge lost or falsified student recordsby providing a tamper-proof, portable, and verifiable system. Unlike previous solutions, our approach is lightweight, affordable, and designed for low-resource schools. By narrowing the scope to an MVP with core features, we maximize delivery impact while staying under 50K ADA. This is not just innovation in technology but also in contextual fit for Ethiopia, where digital infrastructure is limited but demand for trustworthy academic records is high
Describe what your prototype or MVP will demonstrate, and where it can be accessed.
The MVP will demonstrate a fully functional blockchain-backed school record system. It will consist of:
A school dashboard where teachers and admins can anchor student records on Cardano.
A student access point where learners can retrieve and share their records.
The MVP will be piloted in two Ethiopian secondary schools, anchoring at least 200 records on Cardano mainnet. A demo version will also be published on GitHub with open-source documentation and a walkthrough video, ensuring global accessibility for replication.
Describe realistic measures of success, ideally with on-chain metrics.
Success will be measured by:
200+ student records anchored on Cardano mainnet.
50+ successful verification transactions by external parties.
2 schools onboarded and using the dashboard independently.
3 workshops completed with teachers and administrators.
Open-source release on GitHub, including smart contracts, APIs, and guides.
These deliverables ensure transparent, measurable, and verifiable adoption showcasing Cardano’s role in building trust infrastructure for education.
Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem
EduChain Lite will deliver a minimum viable product (MVP) of a decentralized academic record system for Ethiopian schools. Instead of building every feature at once, this streamlined version focuses on secure record anchoring, school dashboard, and student verification tools, leaving advanced analytics and large-scale rollout for later phases.
The solution includes a web dashboard for schools to record basic student details, a Cardano smart contract backend to anchor these records, and a student-facing portal (or wallet connection) for retrieving verifiable histories. By reducing scope to essential functionality and piloting with two secondary schools, the project demonstrates feasibility while staying under 50K ADA.
This approach ensures a working MVP within 6 months, creating tangible on-chain records and training stakeholders. By focusing on core functionality, we minimize cost while laying the foundation for future Catalyst rounds to scale across more schools.
Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community
EduChain Lite demonstrates Cardano’s real-world value in Ethiopia. If successful, schools, NGOs, and policymakers will see blockchain as a trust infrastructure for education. The pilot will prove how Cardano can prevent document fraud, protect student rights, and support educational equity.
Impact metrics:
2 schools onboarded
200+ student records stored on Cardano
At least 50 on-chain verifications tested
3 workshops with teachers/administrators
What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?
Our team has expertise in EdTech, blockchain and Ethiopian education systems. We’ve worked with local schools on digital tools and already established interest in piloting blockchain-based solutions. The smaller scope allows rapid delivery without overextending.
Key feasibility factors:
Blockchain Dev (Plutus/Marlowe): Smart contracts for record anchoring.
Backend/API: Simple APIs for school-to-chain integration.
Frontend Lite: A clean school admin panel (web), optimized for low bandwidth.
Verification Portal: Read-only record checker for NGOs/universities.
By keeping the pilot small (2 schools, 100–200 records), we ensure completion within 6 months. Success metrics include number of records stored, number of schools onboarded, and on-chain verifications performed.
Milestone Title
Smart Contract & Backend Setup
Milestone Outputs
The first milestone delivers the foundation of the EduChain system by building and deploying smart contracts in Plutus that can securely anchor student records onto Cardano. In addition, backend APIs will be developed to connect the contracts with the school dashboard, ensuring smooth data flow, secure anchoring, and retrieval. This step provides the technical backbone for later stages.
Acceptance Criteria
The milestone will be accepted once student record entries can be created, submitted, and permanently stored on Cardano testnet using the backend API. A minimum of 20 test records must be entered and successfully retrieved, demonstrating functionality, immutability, and reliability in anchoring processes
Evidence of Completion
Evidence includes a public GitHub repository with fully documented contract and API code, testnet transaction hashes proving anchoring of data, API documentation for developers, and video demonstrations showing records being submitted and retrieved live on the Cardano testnet.
Delivery Month
2
Cost
12000
Progress
20 %
Milestone Title
School Dashboard (Lite Version)
Milestone Outputs
This milestone delivers a web-based school administrator dashboard designed for simplicity and accessibility, even in low-resource settings. It enables teachers and administrators to input student names, grades, and attendance, which are then anchored securely onto Cardano via the backend. The dashboard provides a user-friendly way to interact with blockchain without technical expertise.
Acceptance Criteria
The dashboard will be accepted once it can store and manage at least 50 test records with no errors and be proven usable by non-technical users such as teachers. Usability testing with teachers and admin staff must confirm ease of use, clarity of design, and reliable integration with the backend API and Cardano testnet.
Evidence of Completion
Evidence includes screenshots of the dashboard interface, demo videos showing records being entered and stored, logs of the 50+ test entries, release of the dashboard code on GitHub, and a written testing report summarizing user feedback from teachers who participated in the trial.
Delivery Month
1
Cost
8000
Progress
30 %
Milestone Title
Student & Verifier Portal
Milestone Outputs
A simple portal is created for students and external verifiers such as NGOs or universities to check the authenticity of school records stored on Cardano. The portal functions as a read-only system, enabling users to input a record ID or student identifier and instantly confirm its blockchain-backed validity, ensuring transparency and trust.
Acceptance Criteria
The milestone will be accepted once 20 independent verification tests have been conducted by users outside the development team. Verifiers must be able to confirm the authenticity of at least 20 student records using the portal with consistent accuracy. The process must be simple, accessible, and reliable for non-technical users.
Evidence of Completion
Evidence includes system logs of verification requests, blockchain transaction hashes corresponding to verified records, survey responses from test users confirming usability, a live demo video of the portal in use, and open-source code publication on GitHub with setup instructions for replication.
Delivery Month
1
Cost
9500
Progress
20 %
Milestone Title
Pilot Deployment & Training
Milestone Outputs
This milestone deploys the EduChain Lite system in two real Ethiopian schools, with training sessions provided to teachers and administrators. The output is a live pilot where at least 200 student records are created and securely stored on Cardano mainnet. Training ensures teachers can independently manage record entry, verification, and sharing.
Acceptance Criteria
The milestone will be accepted once both pilot schools actively use the system with their own student data, and teachers demonstrate they can add, retrieve, and share records without developer intervention. A minimum of 200 records must be on-chain, and both schools must confirm usability and reliability through direct feedback.
Evidence of Completion
Evidence includes signed MoUs from both pilot schools, photos and reports from teacher training workshops, attendance records of training sessions, blockchain transaction hashes proving the 200 records on mainnet, and user feedback surveys confirming teachers’ ability to independently operate the EduChain system.
Delivery Month
2
Cost
20000
Progress
30 %
Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources
The total budget requested is 49,500 ADA, distributed across technical, deployment, and project management components. 12,000 ADA is allocated to smart contract development and backend APIs to ensure strong and secure infrastructure. 8,000 ADA is allocated to building the school admin dashboard, which will allow teachers to enter and manage student records easily. 9,500 ADA is assigned to the student and verifier portal to enable secure, read-only access for record validation. 20,000 ADA supports pilot deployment, training, logistics, and workshops in two schools where at least 200 records will be anchored on mainnet. This cost also covers user testing, travel, and incentives for schools participating in the pilot. The budget is designed to maximize impact within limited resources, ensuring delivery of a complete minimum viable product that is open-source and scalable for future rounds.
How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?
EduChain Lite offers significant value for the Cardano ecosystem by demonstrating a real-world, socially impactful use case of blockchain in Ethiopia’s education system at a cost under 50,000 ADA. By focusing on delivering an MVP that anchors 200+ records on Cardano and enables real schools to use it, the project proves how blockchain can solve immediate problems with minimal resources. The budget avoids unnecessary overhead and prioritizes development, training, and adoption, ensuring that every ADA spent results in measurable outputs such as smart contracts, working dashboards, verifiable student records, and active school participation. Unlike many large-scale IT projects, EduChain Lite delivers a tangible pilot in just six months, proving the system’s potential for nationwide scale-up in future Catalyst rounds. The combination of low cost, high social return, and open-source outputs makes this project a cost-effective way to bring new users, trust, and visibility to the Cardano ecosystem.
Terms and Conditions:
Yes
The EduChain Lite project is led by Firaol Gezahegn, who serves as Project Manager, responsible for coordinating activities, ensuring timelines are respected, and maintaining engagement with schools and stakeholders. Nataniem Seyoum contributes as the Education Lead, managing relationships with teachers and education bureaus, and ensuring the system is aligned with local curriculum and policies. The technical development is supported by a Blockchain Engineer, who will design and deploy Plutus smart contracts for secure anchoring of records, and a Backend Developer, who will create APIs and handle school-to-chain integration. A Frontend/UI Designer is included to build the school dashboard and verifier portal with a strong focus on simplicity and usability for low-resource environments. In addition, a Local Education Consultant will advise on compliance, training, and user adoption, while the Project Management team will coordinate Catalyst reporting and communication with the community.