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Vodafone 'Instant Classroom' is digital school in a box for refugees | WIRED UK. The Vodafone Foundation has unveiled a portable "Instant Classroom" that it hopes will give 15,000 child refugees across Africa access to tablet-based education. The digital school in a box, which has been unveiled at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, can be set up in 20 minutes and can be used in classrooms where there is no electricity. The Foundation has partnered with UNHCR to bring the Instant Classroom to 12 schools in Kenya, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over the next 12 months. Each Instant Classroom is shipped in a secure and robust case that weighs 52kg and comes equipped with a laptop, 25 tablets pre-loaded with educational software, a projector, a speaker and a hotspot modem with 3G connectivity.

The Classroom can be charged as a single unit from one power source in 6-8 hours, after which it can be used in a for an entire day without access to electricity. Vodafone Foundation. UNHCR Innovation | Ideas Box. Building on Experience With Digital Education for Refugees. The unprecedented scale of today’s global migration crisis is making enormous demands on those working in higher education. The numbers are staggering: out of a half-million displaced Syrian youth, 15 to 20 percent would be eligible for higher-education enrollment at home. Many more were forced to interrupt studies when they fled. A majority of displaced Syrians are currently living in countries bordering Syria and are seeking educational opportunities there. Understandably, digital and distance education are being called into service. Hopes are high that we might be able to effectively respond to these young people’s needs. Those issues have largely been left to follow-up development.

Those creating online learning options need to consider quality, reliable access, options for accreditation, and a linkage to rebuilding quality higher education in countries of origin. An InZone Higher Education Space at Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. (© InZone) These two criteria are: Dr. Vodafone brings tablet-based learning to Kenyan refugee camp. Vodafone said that ensuring a high-quality education for refugees in Dadaab remains a challenge due to a scarcity of education resources, funding constraints, and a shortage of trained teachers. Many school-age children arrive at the camp with no prior education and school enrolment remains low. The UN Refugee Agency has found that, of the 279,000 children living in Dadaab, 41 per cent are enrolled in primary schools and only 8.5 per cent are in secondary education.

Six primary schools and three secondary 'Instant Network Schools' are opening in Dadaab, as well as four vocational skills centres for teenagers and young adults. Teachers at Dadaab have been trained in a range of tablet-based education programmes. Safaricom, Vodafone’s affiliate in Kenya, is providing connectivity across all 13 solar-powered schools, while telecommunications equipment company Huawei has donated 235 tablets to the programme.