Safaricom, Education Content Providers Partner for Free Access to Digital Learning Material

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Primary and Secondary school learners will now access free learning and revision materials to learners in primary and secondary from Shupavu291, Longhorn E-learning and Viusasa free in a partnership with Kenya’s biggest telecoms firm Safaricom.

The partnership with Eneza Education will see students from grade 4 to form 4 access learning and revision content on the SMS-based Shupavu291 free of charge following a 60-day waiver of the daily Ksh 3 subscription fee.

“These are difficult times for our country and the world at large and as a company, we are constantly looking at ways of being present for our customers. Through this initiative, we want to ensure that all students can access educational content, whether through feature phones or smartphones and keep up with their studies for the time they will be at home,” said Peter Ndegwa, Safaricom CEO.

Learners will also be able to access educational content on Shupavu Web, Viusasa E-learning and the Longhorn E-learning portal through the Safaricom network at no data cost, up to 250MB per day, for the next 60 days.

Shupavu291 can be accessed via USSD *291# or through the shortcode 20851.

“Eneza Education is excited to partner with Safaricom to make the Shupavu291 learning platform available for free to learners across the country during this time. Our content is delivered via SMS and does not require an internet connection, and this ease of access has seen more than 5.3 million students use the platform,” said Wambura Kimunyu, Eneza Education CEO.

In March, Longhorn, a publishing firm, launched a free learning portal for primary and secondary schoolchildren.

“Grade 1 to form 4 learners will access learning materials on Longhorn’s online portal, elearning.longhornpublishers.com. The materials provided cover both the new Competency Based Curriculum and also 8-4-4 system,” the publisher said.

“Learners with both smartphones and feature phones will access the learning materials either on the internet or by dialling our USSD code *864#,” said Maxwell Wahome, Longhorn CEO.