An estimated 10 million learners in primary and secondary schools in Kenya now have an opportunity to access tutorials through the mobile phone. This follows the launch of a mobile study tool dubbed Shupavu 291 by Safaricom in partnership with Eneza Education.
The education platform which is accessible on a basic mobile phone allows learners to access Kenya National Curriculum aligned lessons through Short Message Service.
Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore noted that with an estimated one out of every three Kenyans having access to a mobile phone, there is potential to use the devices to transform lives.
“We want to ensure that the same way mobile devices are being used for banking, Kenyan children have access to educational material through mobile devices. Not only will it make learning convenient but also interesting,” he said.
“Together with UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Vodafone foundation and education NGOs we created the Instant network Classroom designed to answer connectivity, configuration and supply chain issues encountered when implementing a mobile device based education programme in remote locations. It provides an all-in-one easy and quickly deployable solution. To date 3,000 students in Kakuma and over 20,000 students and 378 teachers in Daadab refugee camps have benefited” He added.
The mobile phone has turned to a virtue school, with a reach of over 572,000 mobile learners across Kenya. At least 469,000 are primary school pupils while 86,000 are secondary school students.
Over 90 per cent of homes in Kenya have access to mobile phones and through Shupavu 291, learners are now able to access Kenya National Curriculum aligned lessons, Assessments, Ask a teacher and Wikipedia services at only 10 shillings per week.
Eneza Education Co-Founder Kago Kagichiri said: “Through Shupavu 291, learners are able to access 8-4-4 aligned lessons, assessments, ask a teacher and Wikipedia services at only Kshs.10 per week. Teachers can also access teacher development courses.”
Shupavu 291 started off as a pilot project in 2013 and has so far reached 572,000 mobile learners. At least 469,000 of these are primary school pupils while 86,000 are secondary school students.
