Liquid Telecom Delivering Free Internet to 450 Schools

Technology company Liquid Telecom is in the process of rolling out free internet connection to 450 schools across the country as part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the Ministry of Science and Technology in March and supported by the Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU).

The project is targeting schools that specialise in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and maths) subjects as these pupils will benefit most from access to the internet. The schools are located across the country, with a finalised list of the target schools due to be published by the Ministry of Education.

Head of the PDU, Kusobile Kamwambi, with the Ministry of Science and Technology’s Permanent Secretary, Brilliant Habenzu and National Coordinator for Smart Zambia, Percy Chinyama.

Under the agreement, the schools will benefit from free internet connection and usage, with speeds of up to 10 mbps. In collaboration with SMART Zambia, Liquid is investigating ways to increase these speeds to 100 mbps.

These initial 450 schools are just the beginning, as government is committed to connecting 17,000 public institutions to the internet by the end of 2025, including 13,000 schools. In addition, government is working to provide 260,000 computers to these schools in order to massively improve the quality of our children’s education.

This development is an important step forward in delivering on the PDU’s goal of ensuring that 80% of the population over ten -years-old has access to the internet by 2026. This connectivity will open up more jobs for Zambians and allow citizens to access information and public services more easily.

Research shows that achieving universal and affordable internet coverage can raise a country’s growth per capita by 2% annually and reduce the population of those living in poverty by 1% per year. If this is accompanied by investments in education and training, this growth rises to 5% per annum.

Quality education has long been a priority for the New Dawn government, with free education for all primary and secondary school pupils introduced in 2022. Since then, the government has recruited an additional 30,000 teachers to educate and empower the next generation of Zambians.

PDU’s mandate is to fast-track development priorities by working with a diverse range of stakeholders, including the private sector. This collaboration with Liquid Telecom clearly demonstrates how much can be achieved through close a public-private partnership.