Science & Tech
SCHOLARX Technologies Ltd., an EdTech start-up, has partnered with Airtel Nigeria to launch LearnAM, a new mobile platform that provides training content, to improve learning outcomes.
Airtel in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Tuesday, said ScholarX would also receive major support from the GSMA Innovation Fund for Mobile Internet Adoption.
It said that Scholarx would be assisted with digital inclusion while leveraging on the expansive retail and digital footprints of Airtel Nigeria to deliver its skills acquisition content.
“The grant received from the GSMA Innovation Fund for Internet Adoption and Digital Inclusion will help fund key components in the initial phase of the project.
“It will fund platform development, content development, sourcing, and early user adoption,” it said.
Commenting on the LearnAm initiative, Bola Lawal, Co-founder of ScholarX said: “The company team expresses profound appreciation to Airtel Nigeria and the GSMA Innovation Fund, funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office.
Lawal said that through the GSMA fund, ScholarX had been able to embark on its quest to connect millions of people in Africa to the internet and helped them get trained invaluable skills for the new digital economy.
“LearnAM provides audio and visual content to improve digital and vocational skills of Africans so they can access decent work.
” It employs a 360 approach as it provides learning opportunities, assessment to measure competency and a marketplace that connects users to jobs, customers and apprenticeships.”
“We are committed to building a more skilled workforce focusing on young people, and not-so-young adult population who are looking to up-skill or simply improve their standard of living,” Lawal said.
Commenting on the partnership, the Chief Commercial Officer of Airtel Nigeria, Dinesh Balsingh, said Airtel was pleased to partner ScholarX, the GSMA Innovation Fund Grantee, in creating platforms and opportunities that would empower and equip young Nigerians with skills.
“At Airtel, we are passionate about improving the quality of education and also helping Nigerians to gain the required skills they need to become self-sufficient and also to realize their dreams.
“We will continue to explore innovative partnerships that will transform lives and help more people to become successful,” Balsingh said.
According to ScholarX, the initial version of the LearnAM app developed on KaiOS will be available on affordable “smart-feature phones” and with content in local dialects such as Pidgin English, Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa.
It said a key feature on LearnAM was a Device Financing Programme that enabled individuals and members of cooperative societies to procure a device preloaded with the LearnAM app, bundled with services from strategic partners on installment after an initial deposit.
It said while the prototype of the LearnAM KaiOS app was now available on the KaiOS app store, the official launch of the platform would be in June. (NAN)
– Apr. 13, 2021 @ 11:55 GMT
Tags: Airtel partner to launch mobile learning platform ScholarX
