Airtel, UNICEF partner to scale-up access to digital learning in Uganda
Date: 2023-03-21
Airtel Uganda in partnership with UNICEF Uganda has announced its commitment to scaling up access to digital learning in marginalized communities in support of the government's effort of implementing the digital agenda in the education and sports sectors.
The partnership according to a statement released earlier today aims at accelerating the roll-out of digital learning by connecting schools to the internet and ensuring free access to learning platforms in Uganda and other Airtel Africa Countries by providing equal access to quality digital learning, particularly for the most vulnerable children to ensure that every child reaches their full potential.
Speaking on behalf of the Managing Director of Airtel
Uganda Managing Director, Manoj Murali, the Chief Commercial Officer at Airtel
Uganda, Amit Kapur confirmed that UNICEF Uganda has been a principal advocate
in the well-being of children and young people, through championing initiatives
that call for access to quality education, and good health, among other
elements that support their Upbringing.”
“As Airtel Uganda, we collaborate
with other stakeholders who participate in humanitarian activities like what
UNICEF Uganda is doing, and today, we are pleased to announce that together
with UNICEF Uganda we aim to scale up digital learning for children across
Uganda,” he indicated.
As a key service
provider in the Telecommunications space, Airtel Uganda built a 100% 4G network
that covers the whole country, and through teaming up with partners like UNICEF
Uganda it has been able to launch a 5 Year partnership which is part of
Airtel’s long-term
commitment to building Uganda’s next important
human resources.
The Deputy Representative for
Operations at UNICEF, Patrick Mutumbo indicated in his remarks that through the @Kolibri digital learning platform, the partnership
will reach 30,000 learners and plans to reach 100,000 others with USSD/SMS-based content optimized for feature phones.
According to him currently,
Kolibri is available in over 100 secondary schools with computer labs and
15 youth-friendly ICT centers in refugee settlements.
“An estimated
16,000 learners and 350 teachers in secondary schools have interacted with
Kolibri. More than 1,080 adolescents and 200 trained volunteers are involved in
out-of-school Kolibri implementation. To date over 7,500 registered users with
over 200,000 content interactions,” he stated.
