Multinational telecommunications service company, Airtel has entered a five-year multi-million dollar partnership with the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) to train 100,000 children in Digital learning.
The partnership mandate that schools are provided with free internet connectivity as well as free access to learning platforms for digital learning, particularly the vulnerable children. The partnership also seeks to ensure that every child reaches their full potential.
Airtel Nigeria and UNICEF Nigeria under this new initiative are planning to help connect schools in Lagos and Kano to the internet, to enable children to learn digitally. This pilot initiative is expected to benefit over 10,000 schoolchildren in the two states.
Speaking on its partnership with Airtel Nigeria, UNICEF Nigeria Representative Peter Hawkins said, “By championing digital education for children in Africa, this partnership with Airtel Africa will help put children’s learning back on track.
“Digital learning is the gateway to equipping young people with the right skills that will support them to transition from learning to earning.
“We are delighted that Airtel Nigeria shares in this vision, and is helping to drive the process of scaling up internet connectivity for school children in Nigeria”.
Also commenting on its partnership with UNICEF is the CEO of Airtel Africa Olusegun Ogunsanya, who disclosed that one of the social responsibilities of the brand is to ensure that children get access to quality education.
In his words, “As a business, we have focused on education as a key area of our corporate social responsibility, and we are delighted that this partnership with UNICEF will enable us to accelerate results.
“It also coincides with the launch of our new sustainability strategy, which lays out our commitment to education. We are excited to be working with UNICEF to advance the education agenda on the continent through facilitating connectivity and online access to play a role in driving change.”
UNICEF whose mission is to cater for the rights of every child, disclosed that its partnership with Airtel Nigeria was necessitated, owing to the fact that a lot of children in Nigeria and across other African countries had their education disrupted during the Covid-19 pandemic.
They, therefore, deemed it fit that by championing digital education for children in Africa, it will help reposition their learning back on track.
Airtel and UNICEF partnership will not only benefit learners in Nigeria, but will also benefit learners in other African countries such as Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.