As the world marks World Teachers’ Day, Airtel Kenya is reaffirming its commitment to empowering digital learning in Kenya by zero-rating access to the Kenya Education Cloud and Elimika platforms. The initiative ensures that teachers who are at the heart of the learning experience, can access professional development resources and curriculum-aligned content at no cost.
The initiative to zero rate these platforms in concert with the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) and the Ministry of Education, is amongst the Airtel Africa-UNICEF partnership pillar of ‘Accessible learning content’.
Airtel Africa’s $57 million partnership with UNICEF, is transforming classrooms across the continent by accelerating digital learning and expanding access to technology for millions of children. In Kenya, the program currently helps 141 public primary schools by providing each with 300 GB of data every month while leveraging the government-issued tablets in schools to enhance learning.
Digital access in Kenya remains uneven and teachers often lack the digital tools and training needed to support students in navigating a technology-driven learning environment. According to the Kenya Housing Survey and the Kenya Demographic Household Survey, only about 10.7 per cent of households own a computer, and just 23.8 per cent have reliable internet access, with rural areas facing the biggest deficits. In schools, the challenge is even sharper, where fewer than half of secondary schools have operational computer labs, and among those, less than half are connected to the internet.
Airtel Africa’s partnership is designed to address these challenges directly by aligning with national education policies to ensure that learners and teachers are not just online but engaged with curriculum-relevant content.
The Kenya Education Cloud platform offers an array of learning resources ranging from video illustrations, recorded lessons and audio classes targeted at learners all the way from pre-primary education to Grade 9. With the adoption of the Competency Based Education taking shape, Kenya Education Cloud is a crucial teaching/learning platform, playing a central role in advancing the new curriculum.
For schools, the guaranteed monthly data allocation is particularly significant. Many digital learning programs have struggled to take off because connectivity costs proved unsustainable. With Airtel covering the data, schools can plan around consistent access to video lessons, interactive assignments, and online resources. Teachers, too, benefit by accessing professional development resources and new teaching methodologies through Elimika at zero data cost, courtesy of Airtel internet.
Initiatives such as these result in long-term impacts, not just on learning outcomes but also on digital readiness more broadly. Students who regularly engage with technology are better prepared for participation in the digital economy, while teachers gain the capacity to integrate technology into their classrooms in practical, sustainable ways.
While some schools continue to struggle with access to electricity, shortage of devices, and gaps in teacher training, partnerships like the one between Airtel Africa and UNICEF are critical to scaling up digital learning and reducing inequities in access and embedding technology in classrooms.
Currently, the program offers thousands of Kenyan learners’ opportunities that were previously out of reach. With reliable connectivity, students in rural areas can now learn from the same platforms as those in urban schools. It is not just about the internet connectivity but about equal opportunity.
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