Safaricom inks payment deal with Kodris Africa for coding lessons

Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

Telecommunications company Safaricom has inked a partnership deal with Kodris Africa to promote study of coding syllabus through purchase of annual lessons on the M-Pesa mini app.

Parents will now buy tokens for a year's worth of coding lessons through the M-Pesa platform and then activate them on a tablet, laptop or desktop computer for their children to start learning how to programme computers.

Coding is the process of converting human intentions into commands that computers can comprehend. The lessons will be presented to learners through an interactive online studio.

Yesterday, Safaricom announced that they would partner with Kodris Africa to promote learning of coding in the country. "We are excited to partner with Kodris Africa to expand access to learning solutions to more than 30 million M-Pesa customers who can now conveniently access the Kodris mini app through our M-Pesa super app," said Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa.

He said the partnership will enable Kodris Africa take advantage of their payments and IT solutions to innovate for their customers.

Kodris Africa Chairman Mwaniki Munuhe said the online-based syllabus will now be easy to access for millions of learners. "When you want to buy goods, you need a mode of payment. Our customers will now easily buy Kodris Africa licences and access the syllabus," he said.

He added: "You will go to the M-Pesa App and pay Sh19,720 for the licence the way you normally pay for Kenya Power tokens. Once you get the code, you log onto the Kodris Africa website, paste the code and your account will get activated."

Kodris Africa is the provider of Kenya's first-ever government-approved programme for teaching coding skills, which are in huge demand today.

The coding syllabus was approved by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) and launched by ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru last month.

Some 150 public primary and secondary schools have started piloting the coding syllabus. It is classified as curriculum support material at KICD, but is also applicable to students in all other modern education systems.

The programme is accredited internationally by Pearson and is online-based, meaning parents can choose to purchase licences for their children.

Kodris Africa is also offering attractive school packages to ensure learners can access the lessons through affordable packages.

Kodris Africa CEO Mugumo Munene said the partnership with Safaricom would help introduce the subject in the education system.

"The digital revolution taking place throughout the world is transforming how work is done. The skills that students will learn through Kodris Africa will be relevant today and tomorrow, and allow them to explore and unleash their creativity in a highly digitised and computerised world," said Mr Munene.