South African edtech company Snapplify, collaborating with the broader education ecosystem to increase access to quality education for learners and educators in disadvantaged communities across Africa in collaboration with the South African Council for Educators (SACE) along with VVOB (Education for Development), a Belgian non-profit organisation have worked together to launch a free virtual library accessible to 400 000 SACE-registered teachers in South Africa.
Creating positive futures through access to education
The Snapplify Foundation believes that technology has a crucial role to play in increasing access to quality educational products and services. As a foundation, they are committed to social inclusion and are working locally with communities, government, and the private sector, and globally with thought-leaders and the donor community, to implement interventions that deliver learning outcomes aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals to accelerate access to ‘inclusive and equitable quality education’ in disadvantaged and vulnerable communities across Africa.
Ella Mokgalane, CEO of SACE comments on the aims of the new virtual library for teachers.
“The President of South Africa has highlighted how important it is for the country to become a nation of readers and our vision to launch the SACE Virtual Library for our registered educators and stakeholders is in line with this – to strengthen reading and literacy in South Africa.”
Titled SACE Virtual Library there are reportedly thousands of free ebooks providing educators with much-needed tools and resources.
SACE Virtual Library
The digital library is accessible due to the innovative and award-winning technology created by Snapplify. A wide range of content is available on the digital platform, ranging from professional development, teaching resources, leadership, and management to leisurely reading.
Mokgalane explains that not only does access to the abundance of tools and resources on the platform provide a secondary learning tool for teachers, it also can be used as a recording tool towards teacher’s development points.
“Engaging with the reading material from the SACE Virtual Library counts as part of educators’ continuing professional development. Therefore, educators will also be able to record their professional development points by accessing the reading material from the virtual library, which is closely linked to the Continued Professional Teacher Development (CPTD) portal.”
Founded in 2021, Snapplify has established the Snapplify Foundation, which is committed to supporting teachers and the teaching community in South Africa.
How to access the platform
In order to gain access to the free resource, teachers in South Africa must be registered with SACE. Once registered, users can log into the library and read the ebooks on any device, both online or offline using the Snapplify Reader app.
