Richard Buttle
According to Richard Buttle, chief financial officer of Metrofile Holdings Limited, the sponsorship is in line with the company's commitment to supporting the provision of quality education in South Africa. "The sponsorship of education modules for E-Classroom enables updated educational material to be accessed for free by teachers, providing them with the necessary tools to improve their pupils' educational experience as they no longer have to spend time or money sourcing education content."
Educational content at the click of a button
Buttle says content hosted on the E-classroom platform can be downloaded at the click of a button, anytime and anywhere, thus eliminating the need for teachers to wait for printed material to be delivered to classrooms, while also saving space as activity sheets can be stored on a computer instead of in a library. "The E-Classroom material is available to all primary schools across the country and is translated into the applicable vernaculars including English, Afrikaans, Zulu and Xhosa."
According to Natalie Wood, CEO of E-Classroom, the platform was established in response to a clear and desperate need from teachers for high-quality education materials. "The E-Classroom vision is to revolutionise education in Africa - to become the leading virtual African learning community, where teachers and learners discover and embrace technology for education."
Metrofile Holdings Limited, together with its subsidiary company, CSX Customer Services - which supplies and installs specialised equipment to the education sector including opscan optical mark readers and specialised printing as well as library security systems for the protection of books - have sponsored educational worksheets for Natural Sciences and Life Skills subjects respectively.
Crucial skills development
Mario Martins, divisional director at CSX Customer Services, says equipping young students with knowledge on Life Skills is crucial to their development. "The 'Jobs People Do' section of the website will teach pupils about the various types of careers available to them. We selected this section because we believe creating awareness about career options from an early age helps to motivate children to aspire to occupy a particular career, which is integral to stimulate interest in employment. There is much talk nationally around job creation, but the reality is, job creation cannot take place without proper education."
According to Buttle, Metrofile chose to sponsor the Natural Sciences worksheets - which focus on sound and musical instruments - because Natural Sciences teach children to understand how the world works.
"Education lies at the heart of our corporate social responsibility and by supporting E-classroom through sponsorship of education modules and other initiatives we aim to make a positive contribution to the country by improving the standard of education. We trust our contribution is able to provide the next generation with a sustainable foundation for personal growth," concludes Buttle.
For more information, go to www.metrofileholdings.com.
