The Ministry of Education Launches a National Digital Teaching and Learning Platform

Lusaka, 8 November 2022 – The Ministry of Education (MoE) today officially launched a national digital teaching and learning platform, the Learning Passport, which has been developed with the support of UNICEF.

The learning passport in Zambia aims to facilitate the digital learning of learners through audio lessons, support young people and adults to gain skills for career development, financial literacy and digital skills, and enhance teaching by supporting the work and professional development of teachers, school principals, pedagogical advisors and education technical staff through the provision of teaching and learning materials and teacher guides.

“Far too many students in Zambia struggled during the pandemic to access quality learning due to school closures and the lack of e-learning materials, and the struggle continues now. This e-learning platform will address the learning crisis and will facilitate the work of teachers and students by giving them a wide variety of tools to continue their learning path even when difficulties arise that make face-to-face learning difficult. The learning passport will supplement learning inside and outside of classrooms and strengthen and accelerate blended learning in the country,” said the Honorable Minister of Education, Douglas Siakalima.

About 3,000 pieces of content are currently available on the platform, including audio lessons for Early Childhood Education (ECE) in five local languages, for Grades 1 to 4 in seven local languages and Grades 5 to 7 in English; financial literacy and career development learning contents for adolescents and young people; video lessons for Early Childhood Education (ECE) and for Grades 1 to 11 (Primary to Secondary); and digitalized and interactive curriculum-based content for Grades 5 to 7 also adapted for children with specialized education needs and disabilities. Moreover, teaching and learning materials to support learner-centered teaching and remedial learning lessons, lessons for teachers and school management to prevent School-Related Gender Based Violence; policy papers, guidelines and research in the area of education; digitalized e-books for learners; and global digital contents on ICT skills are also available on the platform. 

Materials in PDFs, audio, video and epub files will be soon available for free. In order to facilitate this and ensure that learners access the platform, UNICEF and Airtel are entering into a collaboration to zero-rate the platform.

“Microsoft will ensure built-in capacity development and hand-in-hand support to the Ministry of Education of Zambia to be able to fully manage, lead and own high-quality digital learning for the country and its development. We are proud of this collaboration and hope our contribution will help address learning challenges in the country,” stated Angela Nganga, Education Industry Director, Africa Regional Cluster (ARC), Microsoft.

Globally, e-learning is becoming increasingly important in the education sector to support children’s learning, education leadership and management, and more effective use of data for students, teachers, and systems-wide learning.

“The Learning Passport in Zambia aims to support the Government efforts to leverage the COVID-19 recovery process and transform the education system adapting and reimagining how education can work for children. It will help expand learning for Zambian students beyond the walls of the classroom and promote digital literacy among students and teachers,” said Penelope Campbell, UNICEF Representative.

The Learning Passport can be accessed here: My courses (learningpassport.org)