Vodafone Ghana Foundation has launched the “Vodafone Instant School†initiative in Accra in a bid to enhance education delivery in the country through technology.
The initiative provides an online platform where students from basic to tertiary levels can have access to educational resources in subjects such as Mathematics, the Arts, Business and Science courses with comparable quality, range and depth to those available in schools in the developed world. Â
The group-wide initiative is aimed at providing millions of people in Ghana and some parts of Africa with free access to online learning materials developed in collaboration with ‘Learning Equality’ – a leading provider of open-source educational technology solutions, and the Khan Academy.
Speaking at the launch, Chief Executive Officer of Vodafone(CEO), Yolanda Cuba said the initiative in Ghana will put a wide range of basic to advanced learning materials online and give free access to everyone, particularly the remote villages.
“This is also directly in line with Vodafone’s strategy of leading the digitalization agenda in Ghana – ensuring that we are leaving no one behind whiles driving inclusion. The instant classrooms platform is one of the unique avenues we are adopting to digitally touch the lives of every youth in the country,†she stated.
The Instant School she said would solve the problem of expensive conventional teaching materials such as textbooks, reference books, past examination papers, assessment worksheets and classroom aids for many African schools including Ghana.
According to her, education is a powerful antidote to poverty and people in deprived communities are desperate to learn and often lack the means and materials but the Instant School would make such items available on their fingertips.
“This would undoubtedly transform the concept of teaching and learning as education has come to mean many things for different people the world over,†she stated.
“The advent of technology and digitization has changed everything and has certainly changed education and every piece of learning can now be assessed with just a click of the button. Now students can acquire skills exclusively online before they even interact with a teacher with the speed of a light which Vodafone has identified and created a platform that will help students in the country take advantage of the times and compete on the same level as their counterparts in the developed countries,†she explained.
In addition, she said, the platform zero-rated Vodafone in order to offer a cost-effective alternative and can be updated instantly to ensure students receive the very latest information and insights in the classroom and at home.
The company is in discussions with the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service(GES) for the next phase of this initiative which would have specific sections that support Ghana’s educational curriculum.
According to an Assistant Director at GES,Papa Kojo Sam, the initiative would go a long way to help in providing quality and accessible education across the country.
He added that, the company has shown commitment to enhancing the learning experience for students and the GES would provide the needed support to achieve their goals and objectives.
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