Overview
Uptyke is on a mission to make quality education accessible to every child in Kenya — including learners with autism, deaf and hard-of-hearing learners, and learners with visual impairment. Its lessons are KICD-approved and aligned to Kenya's Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), with accessibility built into the experience: Kenyan Sign Language, captions, screen-reader support, and high-contrast materials.
Uptyke was already up and running, but on a foundation that no longer matched their ambition. We rebuilt the platform from the ground up in Next.js — re-engineering authentication, the learning experience, and payments around the real needs of learners, parents, teachers, and partner schools.
The Challenge
Their existing site didn't serve their expectations, and it was holding the product back. The learning experience was hard to navigate for the very audiences it was built for, signing in was a recurring point of friction, and there was no dependable way for parents and schools to pay for access.
For a platform whose entire promise is accessibility and ease of use, those gaps were existential. Uptyke needed something fast, genuinely accessible, and reliable enough to grow on — not a template stretched past its limits.
A Ground-Up Rebuild
Rather than patch the old site, we rebuilt Uptyke from scratch on Next.js. Server-rendered pages keep the platform fast on the modest devices and variable connections common in Kenyan homes and schools — which matters when learners depend on video lessons loading reliably.
We designed the experience around the people who use it: predictable navigation for learners, course discovery by disability type and grade level, and dashboards that make sense to parents and teachers. Accessibility wasn't bolted on at the end — captions, sign-language support, screen-reader semantics, and high-contrast presentation were treated as core requirements throughout.
Solving Authentication with SSO
Authentication had been one of the platform's biggest sources of friction. We replaced it with a single sign-on (SSO) integration, so learners, parents, teachers, and school administrators get into the platform through one secure, consistent login instead of juggling separate credentials.
Beyond convenience, SSO gave Uptyke a cleaner foundation for managing the different roles on the platform — and removed a barrier that had been getting between users and their lessons.
A Robust, Accessible LMS
At the heart of the rebuild is a full learning management system. Courses are organised by disability type and grade level, lessons are delivered as structured video content, and progress is tracked so learners can move at their own pace while parents and teachers follow along.
As part of the accessible learning experience, we also integrated Uptyke with the RESPECT Launcher™, connecting the platform into the wider toolset Uptyke uses to reach and support its learners.
Payments — M-Pesa & PayPal
To make access sustainable, we built payments directly into the platform. M-Pesa covers the way most Kenyan families and schools actually pay, while PayPal opens the door to international supporters, partners, and diaspora families funding learners back home.
Together they let Uptyke collect payments both locally and globally without pushing users out to clunky third-party flows.
The Results
Uptyke now runs on a platform built specifically for its mission. Signing in is simple, the learning experience is accessible by design, and lessons load reliably for the learners who depend on them.
Parents, teachers, and schools can pay through the channels they already use, and the platform has a solid foundation to keep growing the number of learners it reaches across Kenya.
Looking Ahead
With a modern Next.js foundation in place, Uptyke is positioned to expand its catalogue, deepen its accessibility features, and onboard more partner schools — continuing toward its goal of inclusive learning for every child.
