MTN launches online school for South Africa

Telecommunications group MTN has launched its MTN Online School, a free online portal that will offer a digital curriculum for school children from grades R-12.

The online school, which the Department of Basic Education has endorsed, will offer additional features like video lessons, assessments and extra-tuition lessons for Grade 10 to 12 learners.

It will also focus on areas such as financial skills, entrepreneurship, arts and culture, and career guidance content, focusing on critical careers where there are skills shortages in South Africa.

Among the key innovations are video lessons that will be provided with a sign language interpreter to accommodate deaf learners.

The portal includes an introduction to the early childhood development curriculum and African storytelling, with over 2,000 stories, to equip children with good reading skills and improve confidence, enabling them to learn and read independently.

Additional features for FET Phase (Grade 10 -12) include:

• Support to learners after-school, on weekends, during school holidays and dedicated lessons leading up to exams;
• A timetable to drive transparency and structure;
• Learners can work at their own pace as lessons will be available on-demand;
• Online tutoring service will be provided to learners via a help function interface;
• Pre-assessments (test existing knowledge);
• Pre-recorded lessons to watch;
• Tutoring sessions;
• Feedback questions to work through;
• Live sessions presented by a teacher, recap of key concepts, focus on weak areas identified by assessments;
• Post assessments;
• Learner analysis reports;
• Learners can also request help at any time or submit questions via the platform or WhatsApp chat line.

The portal will offer an entire content library over a period of three years, focusing on critical subjects, MTN said.

“Our aim is to enable the youth to access educational fundamentals to tackle the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in a manner that allows them to access future opportunities,” said MTN South Africa chief executive Godfrey Motsa.

“We believe in the future of SA and the education of the future generation, which needs to accelerate its recovery from the economic and personal devastation of Covid-19 to embrace future opportunities made available through quality education and learning.”

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