Safaricom partnership to boost digital learning

What you need to know:

  • Safaricom’s chief executive Bob Collymore described the service developed by Eneza Education as an affordable learning tool accessible from any phone with an M-Pesa account.

Safaricom has partnered with learning startup Eneza Education to launch an SMS-based teaching service that provides 8-4-4 compliant content to primary and secondary school pupils.

The new service, dubbed Shupavu 291, costs Sh10 per week and will cover unlimited curriculum content encompassing all subjects, quizzes as well as a question and answer session.

Established by Eneza Education in 2014, the mobile service has since attracted 469,000 primary school pupils and 86,000 high school students who are subscribed to the service and another 17,000 teachers currently undertaking education training courses via the portal *291#.

The service developers, Ms Tonni Maragivilia and Kago Kagichiri, said learners could access lessons, assessments, a question and answer session and Wikipedia services which had been prepared with assistance from Kenyan teachers.

Speaking to journalists on Friday, Safaricom’s chief executive Bob Collymore described the service developed by the startup as an affordable learning tool accessible from any phone with an M-Pesa account.

Safaricom’s chief executive Bob Collymore described the service developed by Eneza Education as an affordable learning tool accessible from any phone with an M-Pesa account.

FREE WI-FI

Mr Collymore also announced a planned provision of free Wi-Fi in all public primary schools in the country.

“We jointly with the United Nations Refugee Agency and Vodafone Foundation as well as education non-governmental organisations created an instant network classroom connecting 3,000 learners in Kakuma and 2,000 in Dadaab with their 374 teachers through the internet,” he said.

The access to the internet will enable students to individually interact with virtual teachers thereby helping provide an inclusive learning app for all.