MBABANE – The differences in the education in rural schools and urban schools is continuing to decline in the country. The latest intervention to ensure this is the spearheading of an e-learning pilot by Macmillan Eswatini.
Speaking at the pilot launch event, Macmillan Director of Education Dr Lenhle Dlamini said “as a Ministry this is somethin we’ve been hoping to do and we’ve just been restricted by finances. We note that even building the learning channels online is expensive – and Macmillan has put is in the channels and changed our books to be more interactive. This means that a learner can learn by themselves with limited help from the teacher as well as learn in class with the teacher and this improves the quality of the education.”
Dr Lenhle expressed appreciation and hope that the pilot will be effective and eventually be implemented in all schools. “If it were up to us, we would include all the schools from the start – but this requires a lot of planning gadgets and maintenance, hence the small start. We hope that the selected schools Mandulo and Sydney Williams will help us realise the potential and growth of the pilot program.”
According to Dr Dlamini, the schools were selected to provide an easy comparison of the effectiveness of the program as one is an urban area and the other in a most rural area.
In addition to helping with the digital platform, Macmillan also provided smart mobile devices, as well as computers for teachers. They also promised to help schools connect to the internet when they need it.
