Mathematics Education · Teacher Development · Africa
Helping African education systems teach mathematics better.
Combining learning science, teacher professional development, and the engineering to deliver it at scale — so that every child has access to a mathematics teacher who knows their subject and how to teach it.
What I do
Three overlapping areas of practice, each grounded in evidence and orientated toward what actually improves outcomes for learners.
Teacher Development
Designing and evaluating professional development programmes for mathematics teachers across Sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on classroom transfer and system-level change.
Learning Science & Numeracy
Applying evidence from cognitive science and mathematics education research to curriculum design, instructional materials, and assessment — especially in under-resourced contexts.
EdTech, Evaluated
Building, procuring, and critically reviewing education technology tools — with monitoring frameworks, data infrastructure, and evidence of impact built in from the start.
Mathematical animations
Visual explanations of mathematics, made with Manim Community Edition.
![[REPLACE: Video 3 title]](https://img.youtube.com/vi/[REPLACE-VIDEO-ID]/hqdefault.jpg)
Recent writing
Evidence-based thinking on mathematics education and teacher development.
Why Teacher Development, Not Technology, Is the Real EdTech Solution
The evidence is clear: tool adoption without teacher capacity is inert. What the research says about where to invest — and why PD almost always wins.
The Numeracy Gap: What the Data Says About Mathematics in Sub-Saharan Africa
A synthesis of PASEC, SACMEQ, and national assessments — what it reveals about where students lose ground, and what the patterns suggest for intervention design.
Designing PD Programmes that Actually Change Classroom Practice
Most teacher training does not transfer to the classroom. What design features predict classroom transfer — and how to build them in from the start.
About Abba Suraj
I am an education technologist and mathematics education specialist, working on the problem of technology-enabled teacher development in Africa.
My background combines electrical engineering and information technology with years of practical work in teacher professional development and EdTech deployment across Sub-Saharan Africa. NumeracyHQ is the public face of that work.
