Vodacom and ICASA empower learners with ICT tools to kick-off 16th CRASA Conference

Vodacom is proud to be one of the sponsors of the 6TH CRASA Annual AGM, taking place at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre in Durban this week. The CRASA AGM is hosted by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA).

To kick-off the conference on Sunday, Vodacom hosted the CRASA delegation at Umbilo Teacher Training Centre where Vodacom showcased its Vodacom Mobile Education offerings.

Vodacom Group, Chief Executive Officer, Takalani Netshitenzhe said: “Today is about demonstrating transformative power of technology through education; and
The power of partnerships between government, private sector and civil society,”

Netshitenzhe said: “The Vodacom Foundation spends about a R100 million annually to uplift the lives of South Africans. We do this through Education, Health, and Safety and Security projects in partnership with government. Our biggest investment is in education where we spend over R50m in a  year.” 

“In education we run projects mainly under the umbrella Vodacom Mobile Education -through the mobile education we provide quality education content with the department and other partners - we have Vodacom e-school, we contribute to skills development to ready young people for the digital society through our ICT youth Academy programme,” she said.

To comply with the licensing obligations imposed by ICASA, Vodacom has this year alone connected 1 500 schools across the country. Vodacom, through the Vodacom Foundation, has also established 92 teacher centres nationally with 16 of them being in Kwa-Zulu Natal. Vodacom’s goal in education, is to help ensure that learners throughout the country have access to some basic tools to help enhance their future.

In order to address cost challenges associated with access to education and to provide Internet connectivity to previously disadvantaged schools, Vodacom has this year connected 40 schools in KZN with e-learning solution laboratory.

Through this, Vodacom has provided the schools with 40 Galaxy Tab A devices, an e-Beam (interactive device), a whiteboard, a laptop, a Wi-Fi router, 40 Bay Trolleys, e-books with content for Grade 10 Maths and Physics and connectivity with 2048 kbps for 12 months. The e-learning solution also offers free internet access to education content for learners in grades R - 12 across the country. Learners who are Vodacom subscribers are able to access curriculum aligned classroom content on their mobile devices across all major subjects for free.

This intervention is an illustration of Vodacom’s core belief that ICT and mobile technology can be utilised to help improve and advance learning and address skills development in communities such as Kwa-Mashu. The Vodacom e-School portal, launched in January 2015 is a prime examples of how Vodacom is contributing to society.

“Many learners in our country often do not have access to learning material such as textbooks, which makes excelling at school more difficult and the costs of data is also a barrier.”

“As an investor in the country and an established partner in addressing social challenges, Vodacom’s goal is to ensure that learners and teachers throughout the country have access to some basic tools to help enhance their learning experience,” says Netshitenzhe.

Through providing access to internet services and through promoting the digitisation of classrooms across our country, Vodacom is helping to uplift both learners and teachers in our schools.