LAGOS (The Southern African Times) – The United Nations Children’s Fund and telecommunication company, Airtel Africa, has partnered to boost digital learning across 13 African countries.
This was announced on Monday in a press release by UNICEF titled, ‘Airtel Africa and UNICEF announce multi-million dollar partnership to scale-up digital learning for children across Africa, including Nigeria’.
To promote digital learning for the children, the five-year pan- African partnership seeks to connect schools to the internet and ensure free access to learning platforms.
Speaking on the partnership, UNICEF Executive Director, Henrietta Fore, said, “Hundreds of millions of children in Africa have seen their education disrupted or put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“By championing digital education for children in Africa, this partnership with Airtel Africa will help put children’s learning back on track.
“Digital learning is the gateway to equipping young people with the right skills – skills that will support them to transition from learning to earning. We are delighted that Airtel Nigeria shares in this vision, and is helping to drive the process of scaling up internet connectivity for school children in Nigeria,” said Peter Hawkins, UNICEF Nigeria Representative.
For the partnership, Airtel is set to contribute $57 million in cash and kind till 2027.
Asides Nigeria, other beneficiary countries include Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Africa, Olusegun Ogunsanya, said, “We are excited to be working with UNICEF to advance the education agenda on the continent through facilitating connectivity and online access to play a role in driving change.”
