Durban - A Pietermaritzburg businessman has found a novel way to provide cheap data for schoolchildren throughout the year.
Dumisani Ndlovu has invented a SIM card that would give pupils access to educational sites, to help with their digital learning experience. Ndlovu, who founded South Africa Basic Education Online (Sabeo) SIM card said it was the first of its kind.
He has partnered with cellular provider Cell C to ensure schoolchildren get 1 gigabyte of data every day of the year for a nominal fee of R1980. He hoped to have 12 million pupils across the country using it. Ndlovu said he was passionate about basic education and the need for pupils to have access to cheap data.
“I have three wives and 10 children and I could see the hassle my children would go through when needing data if they were not using the home wi-fi for homework and projects. So the innovation of Sabeo came about.
It took me two years to develop and it was all that I could think about. Education has always been my first love so pairing the two was very exciting,” he said. His project was launched last month with five million SIM cards being made available for sale at schools across the country.
“I am obsessed with basic education and believe the digital gap needs to be closed. Data is the oxygen of online learning.
This SIM card would work ideally for pupils who do not have access to wi-fi and with the high cost of data many are unable to afford it even when it comes to accessing learning material,” he said. Ndlovu hoped that President Cyril Ramaphosa would take notice of his creation.
‘’During his State of the Nation address, the president promised an initiative which would see pupils have ebooks, which is why I am calling on the presidency to take note of Sabeo, make it available and make use of our app which focuses on the curriculum of basic education,’’ he said. Ndlovu assured parents that the SIM card was strictly for the use of researching educational content.
“What makes my SIM card different is that many sites are blocked, plus parents are able to see the history of sites visited by their children. We are a telecommunications company which focuses exclusively on South African school pupils,” he said. Roland Wardle, a senior manager at Cell C, confirmed their association with Ndlovu.
‘’As a service provider at Cell C, we pride ourselves on changing the digital world. As much as the product is still at the launch stage, we believe that it will do really well and the digital gap in schools will be closed. When Mr Ndlovu approached us we saw how much this would decrease stress levels of parents when it comes to buying data.
The SIM card is accessible via the Sabeo portal with instructions. Principals who are using the SIM cards in their schools and have given positive feedback. We are looking forward to expanding the brand,’’ he said
SUNDAY TRIBUNE