While the social restrictions currently in place to curb spread of the Covid-19 pandemic may be hindering students from conventional learning, leading technological services group, Casava Smartech is disrupting the norm with its latest offering, the Akello e-library which is offering Zimbabwean students a platform to subscribe for Zimsec curriculum books online, 263Chat has learnt.
The school calender is now in shambles since the lockdown measures came into effect about three months ago and most learners with limited learning material have been adversely affected.
Authorities are yet to announce the reopening of schools and colleges as they tread carefully in these unprecedented times, a situation that has left leaners in limbo.
“We are introducing the Akello E-Library platform to the market in order to offer convenience to students who have been heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Cassava Smartech Zimbabwe CEO, Eddie Chibi said.
“With schools shutting down and uncertainty of their opening, we still want students to achieve good grades and excel, regardless of the schools they attend or their financial circumstance. We believe we are offering them a platform where they can access academic textbooks as their use is quite beneficial,” he added.
The Akello E-library houses books across various categories for all age groups, from ECD to A Level.
They range from ZIMSEC-approved curriculum books, Christian reading and more.
The tech company has managed to compile these virtual books through strategic partnerships with various esteemed publishers such as College Press, Palm Publishers, Zimbabwe Publishing House, Connexional Bookshop, Palm publishers, Edulight, Priority Projects Publishers,Consultus Publishing Services and Secondary Book Press.
“We are proud to be part of Cassava Edutech’s initiative as it is our passion as publishers to create and provide access to teaching and learning materials that is curriculum based,” Consultus Publishing Services, managing director, Patricia Mwazvita said.
The subscription model for library books is 90% cheaper than hard copies.
Readers can subscribe for unlimited number of ebooks for a period of a day, a week and up to a month.
Analysts have already applauded the use of technologies in closing the gap created by the lockdown measures currently in place and many have projected that doing things virtually might as well be the new normal post covid-19.
The Akello E-library can be accessed on the internet by visiting: https://www.akellobooks.com/eLibrary/#/login
