Two weeks after President Museveni ordered the shutting of schools due to the deadly novel coronavirus, some parents are yet to find their footing as far as keeping their children productively engaged at home is concerned.
The school term had barely started when bang!! COVID 19 strikes and children had to go back home. But in this era of online studying, education doesn’t have to stop because schools are closed. With affordable and reliable internet, children can still go on with their studies at home.
And so online learning which has been around for long and yet has hitherto been taken for granted now becomes the go to place. As such, many parents are seeking out affordable online resources, apps and games to keep their kids’ minds engaged at home.
And there are very many of these if one dared to search. However, if you are an MTN data customer, your child can access select educational websites for free.
Like with many other areas, some organizations chose to use their resources to help out the distressed citizens during this difficult period, and we must commend such organizations for looking out for the people.
MTN Uganda, one of these organizations chose to zero-rate several learners’ websites to complement efforts to educate and keep children engaged during the quarantine period. This means MTN data customers don’t need MBs to access the sites. It’s absolutely free.
By offering free access to select educational websites to enable parents to home school their children, MTN believes that Ugandans will be able to stay safe at home and learn while at it.
Richard Musoke, a father of three school going children notes that this move by MTN is most likely one of the best steps taken by company in the battle to fight corona virus, its sincere and its useful for concerned parents with school-going children.
Amidst the uncertainties of the ongoing pandemic, Musoke’s biggest concern was keeping his children constructively engaged and happy.
“When a colleague forwarded me that banner with free educational sites on MTN’s website, I thought it was a joke but I tried it out and here we are!” says Musoke whose children are active user of the sites.
“MTN’s waiver on data of some of these interesting kids Educational websites really helps me a lot to keep my kids engaged, happy yet up to date on their school curriculum without me having to worry about my wallet,” Musoke says.
Dr. Simon Epetait a resident of Luzira is another parent that was lucky to learn about the sites and has not stopped telling his friends about them.
“Ordinarily I would have sent them for coaching. I had never considered these online resources. But I am glad that I have now gotten to learn a new way of doing things. These are resources I will continue using even after this period. My advice to parents is to get hold of these resources when they are still zero rated. I also call on other organizations to help make this kind of education more affordable,” Epetait said.
Whether you’re seeking to support your child’s pre-existing schoolwork or want to simply get creative and learn new, exciting things, there is something for children of all ages on the sites.
Here is a list of zero-rated educational websites that you can use to learn from home or access for your kids to keep tabs on their education. The sites are available at https://www.mtn.co.ug/learnathome/
