The Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) has introduced a free e-learning innovation to be used in Primary and Secondary schools in Malawi as a way of ensuring that education does not completely suffer amid the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
The Innovator Bennet Kankuzi says the innovation seeks to level the surface for students from well-to-do families who are currently accessing education through e-learning in private institutions and the less privileged who rely on public schools for education.
According to Kankuzi the innovation, which comes as a way of the University’s giving back to Malawians, has been designed to be user friendly and is available both on the web browser and in form of a mobile application.
“It is a free learning platform which does not require advanced technological knowledge and handsets. It works on a minimum of Android 4, and its interfacing is not very complicated that anyone who can use social media applications such as WhatsApp can surely manage to use it,” said Kankuzi, adding that currently it is already in the public domain and many teachers from across the country are learning how to use it.
“We have evidence of the platform being used by teachers from as far as Misuku in Chitipa, Manyamula in Mzimba, Phalombe, Neno, Nsanje and many other districts and out of these people we have not received any complaints challenging its user friendliness,” he added.
The platform can be accessed through a moodle mobile application that is available for download on the internet as well as on the web at www.elearning265.net.
MUST is championing the innovation through its Center of Innovation and Industrial Research in hopes that it would assist government in ensuring a smooth delivery of essential social services in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Malawi, like all other nations in the world, is under the Covid-19 attack and government closed all education institutions as a measure of ensuring that there is social distancing between people and that everyone is staying at home to avoid the spread of the Corona Virus.
In support of learning at home initiatives, recently Minister of Education, Science and Technology William Susuwele Banda launched online learning and signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Mobile Companies in Malawi aimed at supporting the government in delivering education efficiently.
Speaking during a meeting with Telecom Networks Malawi Limited, the Minister said it was government’s concern that over 5.4 Million children and adults who were attending school are now at home, a thing that is not good for the country’s development.
“My ministry is working closely with a number of partners in coming up with a number of innovative solutions to keep our children busy with lessons while at home,” said Minister Banda.
Gift Gonjani, a teacher at Chilayeni primary school in Phalombe District said the MUST innovation was good.
He, however, worried over its accessibility to needy students, a worry which the innovators say they are aware of but could only be solved with interventions by others sectors.
Meanwhile, the innovation continues to diffuse the market through peer introductions especially among those in the teaching profession.
