Many children in South Africa go to school without books.
As a Purpose-led organization that uses technology to connect people for a better future, Vodacom believes that the opportunities and promise of a better digital future should be accessible to the many and not just the fortunate few.
Education is one of the Vodacom Foundation’s key focus areas and is anchored in Education Goal 4 in the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The objective is to use our technology to bridge the divide that exists in our society to ensure that no child is left behind.
Vodacom eSchool played a pivotal role in ensuring that South African learners, regardless of their socio-economic status, were connected to quality online education during the Covid-19 National Disaster – which halted school attendance and further exacerbated the shortage of textbooks for many school learners.
Vodacom increased its digital media spend by R732,551.85 in efforts to drive awareness of this online learning platform for the purpose of ensuring that all learners did not miss out on learning during the national lockdown.
The goal was to increase the number of subscribed users by 32%, and this target was exceeded by 60%.
Vodacom launched eSchool in 2014, to democtratise access to educational for all South African learners using digital channels. Vodacom customers can access the platform for free.
The platform includes the full educational syllabus from the first grade of school until the last grade when learners are ready to enter College and University. The platform also includes self-assessments so learners can gauge their progress and track their achievements.
The platform has evolved to include Artificial Intelligence based guided learning to make it even easier for all children to learn digitally. Some of the AI powered improvements include, the personalisation of the student’s learning path through analysing performance in assessments. A revised dashboard also allows learners and their parents to get improved visibility on the learner’s progress through the syllabus.
Lerner collaboration is also improved with a feature that creates a digital version of the classroom experience.
Vodacom eSchool is therefore a contributor to the fourth industrial revolution, investing in best of breed technology to help mold the next generation of minds that will drive South Africa's economy in the future.
2019
Base Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
Target 83 333 83 333 83 333 83 333 83 333
Actuals 751 176 28 790 18 279 25 332 15 638 9 165
2020
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Total
Target 83 333 83 333 83 333 108 333 108 333 108 333 108 333 1,1m
Actuals 23 547 25 343 102 246 133 004 36 298 19 117 15 016 1,2m
