China's global technology giant Huawei and South African partners have launched an e-Libraries program in an effort to improve literacy in South Africa, where only 15 percent of the population have access to a community library, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
The e-Libraries program is a partnership between Huawei and Vodacom South Africa, the Department of Basic Education of South Africa and the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
According to the report, the program contains an educational content application, which is available for free on Huawei tablets given out to the 61 Vodacom Information and Communication Technology (ICT) resource centers located across South Africa.
Huawei donated 400 tablets that have been loaded with a collection of e-book content, covering genres of African history, literature, business/entrepreneurship as well as fiction.
The collection is available in all eleven official languages of South Africa, and was made accessible by publishing partners that included Oxford University Press, FunDza, Shuter & Shooter and Via Afrika, and complemented with content from the Department of Basic Education and the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
"Huawei has been continuously partnering with Vodacom to provide ubiquitous telecom network services to build a better connected world. We share much appreciation to our valued partners for the collaborated efforts to improve educational platforms in South Africa," You Jiangtao, Huawei Vice President of East and Southern Africa Region, was quoted as saying.
"At Huawei, we strive to bridge the digital divide and hope the beneficiaries will capitalize on this opportunity," You added.
According to Shameel Joosub, CEO of Vodacom Group, access to reading material is a major challenge in South Africa, as many students and people do not have access to libraries and reading materials.
Joosub said that the program would use technology to help make a difference in the communities where their customers live. He added that through the initiative, Vodacom aims to enable learners and community members to read e-books at the centers for free.
"Vodacom together with its partners believe that we can help address this challenge by broadening access to literacy in this way," the Vodacom CEO said.
Sello Hatang, CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, expressed appreciation for the program by quoting Mandela's saying: "What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead."
"Nelson Mandela's legacy has created the opportunity for us to achieve a bright future," Hatang said.
Huawei, which provided the devices, also participated in Gauteng Department of Education's e-learning program last year.
Huawei had invested in more than 100 universities and training institutes worldwide to facilitate knowledge transfer, including 45 ICT training centers, which were built by Huawei or by partnerships of the Chinese tech company.