Corporate partnership supports development of learning in Tanzania.
Celebrated annually, the International Education Day 2020 positions education and learning as humanity’s greatest renewable resource. It reaffirms the role of education as a fundamental right, a public good and an enabler of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
This aligns with Vodacom’s key purpose pillars of promoting a digital society, contributing towards an inclusive society. It is also in line with measures to accelerate progress to meet the international sustainable development goals on education and the environment.
Vodacom believes by leveraging its vast digital infrastructure, it can empower students through engagement with education and development partners to increase access to digital tools, usage and information.
The rapid speed of digital transformation has resulted in new opportunities in education and business within developing countries like Tanzania. However, it has also resulted in new forms of inequality, where the technology is available but access is a challenge due to factors such as affordability and limited network coverage.
In addressing some of these key challenges, Vodacom has invested significantly over the years in its network infrastructure, that now covers more than 90 percent of the population in urban and rural communities.
Vodacom’s Instant Schools program is a good example of Vodacom’s support for access to information in the education sector.
Students and teachers across the country can access Vodacom’s Instant Schools – an online portal with education resources for students and teachers in primary and secondary schools. At zero cost for subscribers, users can watch videos, work on exercises, access digital books, and interact with simulations.
So far, 197 schools have enrolled in the Instant Schools Program across the country including in Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Simiyu and Urambo, reaching over 142,301 learners who are benefiting from the platform. Current investment on computers and data for the program is TZS 525, 598, 905.
In order to increase access to Vodacom’s Instant Schools portal and the internet, Vodacom has donated computers particularly to schools in rural areas of the country where access to information is still a challenge.
Vodacom in a partnership with Universal communication Services Fund (UCSAF) are advancing digital literacy in schools across Tanzania. Through this partnership, 300 schools especially in rural areas will receive computers and internet connectivity expected to benefit more than 160,000 students. This donation program is part of a wider corporate agenda to promote quality learning with focus on rural Tanzania.
Investment in education is part of Vodacom’s purpose pillars as a corporate entity, to promote inclusiveness and develop a digital society. Vodacom has collaborated with the government, education institutions and development partners to ensure more people engage with today’s digital age.
Through better access to information, we believe we are setting a stage for youth today to be better equipped to operate in a digital world and improve learning outcomes especially for women, girls and marginalized people in vulnerable settings.
In addition to donation of computers program, we are supporting schools with free routers and internet connectivity. This underscores our corporate strategies to direct resources in support of attaining international Sustainable Development Goals.
