The British Council is pleased to announce the launch of a partnership with Zain Telecommunications Company in the schools education programme ‘Connecting Classrooms’, which is implemented in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Education and the Ministries of Education in the States of Sudan.
Zain also works towards the improvement of education standards in Sudan, contributing generously to substantial work in community-based projects in the education sector, and committing funds as part of its corporate social responsibility programme.
Funded jointly by the British Council and UK Aid (Department for International Development) ‘Connecting Classrooms’ is an international programme, implemented on a global scale. We are delighted and honoured to welcome Zain as a national partner to help us increase reach and scale, develop ambitious business plans and to sustain our educational activities.
The programme aims to improve the quality of education in schools, including the provision of materials and teacher training, and by integrating ‘21st Century’ skills in the classroom. Training in these skills has been designed to enable children to be better prepared to live and work in the fast evolving international environment preparing them to contribute in a global economy. The skills include Digital Literacy, Communication & Collaboration, Creativity & Imagination, Critical Thinking & Problem Solving, Student Leadership and Global Citizenship.
Through our partnership with Zain we will be able to reach a larger number of teachers and provide training in more than 20 cities in Sudan. We will also be able to provide pedagogic consultancy and organise high level Policy Dialogue around educational issues, exploring how to enhance the professional skills of teachers. The educational opportunities we create for Sudanese young people will be aligned to national educational goals of education set by the Ministry of Education.
In partnership with Zain this programme will deliver:
• Training of more than 2,000 teachers and school principals in more than 1,000 schools on the 21st century skills
• Holding conferences, workshops and seminars on quality education, including child protection and inclusive education and training.
• External participation in regional and international educational forums to enable Sudanese policy makers to benefit from international exposure .
• Exchange of educational experiences between Sudan and the United Kingdom in through experts visits from both countries.
In this partnership with the British Council, Zain telecommunications company is implementing one of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, which calls for quality education and teacher training in nine states this year, which are: Sinnar, Khartoum, Al-Jazeera, Nile River, South Kordofan, South Darfur, the Red Sea and the White Nile State. So far 320 teachers have been trained in Sennar state. The program will also train 320 teachers in Khartoum State and by the end of March 2018 2,000 teachers will be trained in all the targeted states.