Samsung Africa has urged organisations across Africa to consider the unique ways in which they can help provide quality education and skills development to the youth. At the eLearning Africa 2013 conference, the company also reaffirmed its commitment to continue to develop new solutions to meet the education challenges the continent faces, and showcased several of the solutions it has developed to date, including the Samsung Smart School solution, Samsung Solar Powered Internet School, and Samsung Solar Power Generator.
“Every company can help in some way to solve the education problems that we are faced with in Africa, which affects all of us and ultimately impacts our future success and sustainability on the continent”, says Ntutule Tshenye, Business-to-Government and Corporate Citizenship Lead at Samsung Africa. “For example, at Samsung we know that the best way we can help is by drawing upon our history of innovation and our expertise in the field of electronics engineering. But our solutions need to exist within a strong network of partnerships for them to have maximum impact.”
Samsung Africa’s CSR strategy is focused on education, and it believes it will be most successful by connecting its desire to improve lives with its long-term business goals in Africa. The company knows that to be sustainable, it needs to invest in African thought-leadership and ensure the development of a large pool of skilled resources.
To do this, Samsung is delivering on a practical strategy under its global ‘Hope for Children’ campaign, focusing on education, rural access and connectivity, and developing programs that speak to the broader basic needs of communities. And, the company has set itself an ambitious goal: to directly impact the lives of 5 million Africans by 2015.
The many different contexts in which Africa’s education challenges are set drove Samsung to focus on developing new education solutions, rather than ‘doing more of the same’. Says Tshenye, “If we strive towards quality education for all; there can’t be any exceptions. We can’t solely focus our efforts on urban schools, or schools with electricity. We need to come up with solutions for the remotest parts of the continent – as well as everything in between. And we also can’t separate education from other challenges such as health care, which ultimately impact a child’s ability to learn”.
With this in mind, Samsung has developed several solutions to improve education for different environments across the continent:
A Smart School solution for smart young minds
Samsung’s Smart School solution, which has been rolled out at eight schools in South Africa, allows teachers and students to benefit from the very best that a digital education solution can offer. It is a fully integrated one-on-one learning platform that enables teachers to deliver an interactive learning experience and provides students with immediate, reliable data access.
The classroom is made up of three components: an interactive management solution, the learning management system, and the student information system. The interactive management solution allows teachers to deliver content to students and share screens, and enable them to monitor student progress and conduct group activities, and run tests or instant polls. The learning management system provides educational materials and content, such as e-textbooks and learning apps. And the student information system helps teachers track individual student progress, attendance, and other important student information. Students are also able to access their school information at any time – whether at home or at school – and are able to interact with their peers and teachers via online portals and engaging communication tools.
Transforming classrooms with digital tools
Across all regions on the continent, Samsung Africa has equipped several schools with a range of products to transform ordinary classrooms into 21st century e-learning centres. Along with Samsung Notebooks, Multifunctional printers, and Interactive 65’’ inch E boards, Samsung has provided training to teachers to ensure that they are able to incorporate these technologies into their teaching methods.
Bringing a modern classroom to the remotest corners of Africa
Samsung’s Solar Powered Internet School is a world-first solution targeted at addressing the issue of rural connectivity. The exclusively solar-powered, mobile and completely independent classroom is built in a 40 foot shipping container, for easy transportation via truck to the remotest areas on the continent. The classrooms are designed for use in areas with limited or no access to electricity, and have fold-away solar panels on its roof, which provide enough energy to power the classroom’s equipment for up to three to five days without any sunlight at all.
It can comfortably accommodate 24 learners, and includes several layers of insulation and a ventilation system, to ensure a temperate environment is maintained. Each classroom is fitted with a 65 inch electronic E-board and different Samsung Notebooks and Netbooks, including the world-first solar powered netbooks and Galaxy Tablets for student and teacher interface, all of which are optimised for use in a solar powered environment.
Harnessing solar power to power traditional classrooms
Remote rural areas typically experience problems with power supply – often electricity is not available or the power supply takes the form of a diesel- or petrol-driven generator. For schools in particular, these options are expensive to purchase and maintain. As part of its ‘Built for Africa’ product range, Samsung has developed an alternative that provides easy power accessibility at an affordable price and does not require the use of non-renewable resources for its operation. The generator can provide power for up to eight years without any additional maintenance, and has a lifespan of up to 25 years, ensuring a reliability-centred power solution for rural schools and community centres.
Developing African electronics engineers
The Samsung Electronics Engineering Academy programme is a core part of Samsung’s vision to fast-track the entry of African youths into the electronics job market, with a short-term goal to develop 10 000 service technicians across the continent by 2015. The program provides hands-on, vocational skills training at no cost to students to supplement their school curricula, and after completion, assists them in obtaining employment through a placement program with Samsung’s partners in each region.
Academies are currently operating in South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya, with plans underway for new Academies to open in other regions over the next few years.
In addition to these education initiatives, Samsung recently launched the Solar Powered Health Centre, a mobile solution that provides a range of eye, ear, blood and dental medical services to people in rural areas, who often don’t have the resources to travel long distances for preventative screening. The company believes that this initiative complements its work in the education sector because healthcare plays such an important role in ensuring children perform at their best in the classroom.
Staff writer
