Safaricom has extended free access to digital educational content for learners to September 8, 2020 as schools remain closed.
In April, Safaricom partnered with Eneza Education, Longhorn Publishers and Viusasa to provide free access to educational content for primary and secondary school students studying from home.
The content, which is approved by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), has been free to access. Since April, more than 10 million education bundles have been redeemed to access e-learning platforms, while over 1.8 million learners have accessed the SMS-based Shupavu291 platform by Eneza Education.
The partnership with Eneza Education allowed students from grade 4 to form 4 access learning and revision content on the SMS-based Shupavu291 free of charge following a 60-day waiver of the daily Ksh3 subscription fee.
Learners were allowed to access education content on Shupavu Web, Viusasa E-learning and the Longhorn E-learning portal through the Safaricom network at no data cost, up to 250MB per day.
In 2019, Shupavu291, which is accessed via USSD *291# or through the short code 20851, saw 6.2 million quizzes taken and more than 1 million questions asked on the Ask-A-Teacher platform.
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The free to access platforms are also be available on www.safaricom.com/elimu.
Early this week, Safaricom partnered with UNESCO, and Eneza Education to implement a digital mentorship programme for high school students interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
The program involves working with role models and mentors to provide students with information on STEM subjects to enable them make informed career choices. Learners will get a chance to engage with tutors through programmes on local TV and community radio stations as well as through SMS via the shortcode 40291.
Over 40 radio stations and a local TV channel will air the live shows during which students will be encouraged to send questions via SMS to 40291. The mentors and facilitators of the show will then send responses to each question as they engage the learners. The programme will run for the next 11 weeks.
Through this project, UNESCO expressed hope that learners will be able to nurture interest in STEM through the linkage between them and the role models in the STEM profession, through online interaction and the continual access to mentorship services.
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