The Sunday News
Mthabisi Tshuma, Sunday Business Correspondent
DEUTSCHConnect has launched an e-learning platform to help continue German language and business mentorship classes during the coronavirus lockdowns in many countries.
The German-based organisation links Southern African businesses and people to German business ecosystem through Mentorship, Matchmaking and Access to Market and Partnerships courses. The courses are tailor-made for both prospective “au pairs” as well as skilled Zimbabweans looking to migrate to Germany. An au pair is a helper from a foreign country working for, and living as part of, a host family.
Speaking about the new development from his base in Germany, DeutschConnect founder Mr Kumbirai Chipadza said as a result of the pandemic they have had to improvise to ensure that life goes on post-Covid-19.
“As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, we had to rethink our strategy and digital learning platforms as they are the new reality.
“We will be providing our online classes through Zoom in order to ensure that learners interact during the session. The platform doesn’t have a physical limitation and it can be accessed anytime, which has further enhanced our ability to extend our offerings across more borders,” said Mr Chipadza.
He expressed hope that they would be able to reach a wider audience as they have mostly been focusing mainly in Harare and Bulawayo.
“We hope this will enable us to reach a wider audience as not everyone is in Harare or Bulawayo. The development is part of measures of working closely with the Zimbabwean Government to implement the same e-learning facilities for schools and universities,” said Mr Chipadza.
Educational institutions across the globe — including Zimbabwe — have been hit hard by the Covid-19, and official figures from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Fund (Unesco) show that by the end of March 2020 more than 160 countries had partially or completely closed schools and universities, which affected over 1,5 billion learners and 60,2 million teachers worldwide. – @mthabisi_mthire.
