More women are proving to be tech savvy and are taking advantage of online educational programmes to advance their academic skills, according to Advanced Learning Interactive Systems Online (ALISON), a provider of free online studies.

WORKING CLASS AND ILLITERATE WOMEN GO ONLINE TO LEARN

ALISON’s founder, Mike Feerick, stated, in comments made to The Standard , that 65 per cent of those who enrol in the online courses are women who previously could not access such services. The learners, who comprised of either working class or illiterate women, were looking for certificates for basic and essential workplace skills.

TWO MILLION LEARNERS WORLDWIDE

ALISON is reported to have two million learners in the world, with one million of those coming from Africa. Additionally, it has 350,000 graduates who have successfully completed their courses.

Nigeria tops the list of African countries of participants with 50,000 online learners while South Africa has 40,000, Ghana 30,000 and Kenya 20,000. India however, is expected to become the biggest basis for online learners, surpassing the UK and US in the next six weeks.

NEW TECHNOLOGY OPENS DOOR TO EDUCATION

New technology has without question broken many of the barriers to education and some study courses, and certificates that result from them, that would earlier require a person to be physically sited in a classroom to acquire, are now just a click away.

It is certainly encouraging to see women taking advantage of these platforms to better their lives and, it should be noted, ‘stay at home mums’ can now have something else to do as well that may end up improving their lives.