Tuesday July 21, 2020
UNICEF Somalia/2020
(Xinhua) -- The UN children's fund (UNICEF) and the government of Puntland in northeast Somalia on Monday launched the Learning Passport, a digital remote learning platform where children can access educational content both online and offline from their homes.
Abdullahi Mohamed Hassan, Somalia's Minister of Education and Higher Education said children will be able to access high-quality lessons in line with the official curriculum and not become the hidden victims of the COVID-19 crisis by missing out on an education.
The initial stage of the rollout will see more than 11,000 children, almost half of them girls, being able to access over 600 recorded lessons and videos for Grade 8 students, with 12 subjects already uploaded. It can be accessed using a computer or through a mobile application.
According to UNICEF, Puntland's ministry has become the first ministry of education from Africa to adapt the Learning Passport platform for the dissemination of their curriculum to reach out to more children.
It said more lessons are under development and will be uploaded onto the Learning Passport to enable all primary and secondary students to have access to this innovative learning platform.
Teachers will be able to monitor children's progress and parents can also access learning materials so they can play a critical role in supporting their children's education.