Mark Horner, CEO, Siyavula Education, presents at orientation week for the Mastercard Foundation Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning in ICT EdTech Fellows.

EdTech Fellow Working to Provide Access to Learning During COVID-19

Fellowship Aimed at Delivering Quality, Relevant Education Content to Secondary School Students

One of the Foundation’s recently announced EdTech Fellows is partnering with government and the private sector to provide access to high quality educational materials to South African secondary school students impacted by school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Siyavula Education, one of twelve Fellows at the Mastercard Foundation Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning in ICT, focuses on using technology to enable access to high-quality education. They are working with MTN South Africa and the government’s Department of Basic Education to ensure that grade 10, 11, and 12 learners can keep up with the curriculum in the coming weeks. Access to Siyavula Education’s e-learning platform was already free for MTN customers but has been expanded to include all South African students. The platform includes learning materials for math, CAT and IT and physical sciences, as well as content for exam prep.

Dr. Mark Horner, CEO of Siyavula Education believes that, “by providing all Grade 10 to 12 mathematics, CAT and IT and physical Sciences learners with unlimited practice and exam questions at their level, automatically marking their answers, showing full model solutions and a real-time dashboard to track their progress, we enable them to take ownership of their learning.”

The Foundation’s Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning in ICT aims to spark innovation in the use of ICT in secondary education. Fellows were selected after an Africa-wide Request for Proposals late last year. EdTech entrepreneurs were invited to submit proposals that either:

Enhance and increase accessibility and affordability of professional development for in-service teachers, which also minimizes their out-of-classroom time; or
Create and deliver enriched learning content that improves quality, relevance, and accessibility to both in-school and out-of-school secondary school learners.

About Siyavula Education, South Africa

Siyavula’s flagship products are Siyavula Practice and Exam Prep, which are part of a customized online learning platform that uses the latest research on motivation, sequencing, and cognitive science to optimize student study habits and improve test scores.

Currently the platform focusses on high school mathematics and physical sciences. Services are complemented by a catalog of free, open-license textbooks that are endorsed by the National Department of Basic Education in South Africa. A teacher-focused toolkit has been developed for managing classes, assignments, and reporting.

Their website is: Siyavula.com/.