ECONET Wireless Zimbabwe on Wednesday launched a digital learning platform called Ruzivo – an online interactive digital learning platform targeted at both primary and secondary students to complement government’s efforts in providing education resources to help improve the pass rate.
Ruzivo, will be a subscriber based services where students pay US$2 per month to access content for their education.
Econet, Chief operating officer (COO) Fayez King told reporters at the launch that Econet was adapting to changes that were taking place around the globe, which were driven by technology, to provide children with easy access and cheap learning material.
“The classroom of today will change and we are here to introduce this change and bring a breakthrough,” King said in Harare.
The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed mobile phone network, with 9,2 million subscribers as at September 30, 2015, has diversified from a voice and text messaging only operator when it launched in 1998 to offer services that range from mobile money transfer services to insurance premium payments and provision for weather forecasts.
“Zimbabwe is one of the most literate countries in the world today and with literacy comes innovation…Ruzivo is a groundbreaking way of learning,” said King.
Ruzivo would provide content for primary and high school children and students to complement, Eco School the content provider for tertiary education students. The packages can be used both in the classroom for lessons and at home for revisions and once a child gets started, Ruzivo will keep his or her progress in all exercises and tests.
Sabina Manduna, the head of Ruzivo, said Econet had deployed content writers to work on content for the platform.
It has been approved by the Ministry of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture.
Improved provision of learning materials is expected to result in improved examination results for the country’s schools.
Launching Ruzivo, Econet Wireless chief executive officer Douglas Mboweni said: “At Econet we believe that investing in the education of our children is key to unlocking the nation’s economic prosperity across all sectors. Zimbabwe is rated amongst the top literate countries in Africa and we would like to see that great achievement maintained for this and future generations”.
“Ruzivo offers affordable access to quality education for learners. We have developed Ruzivo as a low cost-high quality education model which is accessible across the country,” he said.
Mboweni said the investment for either School packages for classroom environment or Individual packages for home use is only US$2 per student for the whole month.
“We invite parents and guardians to invest in the future of their children with Ruzivo and begin to experience a smart way of learning,” he said.
