Students who used a Digicel smartphone or device to access a Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture (M.E.S.C.)-supported online learning platform used 6,000 gigabytes of data in six weeks.

Digicel Samoa’s Chief of Operations, Agnes Fruean, said the amount of data used by the students for the past six weeks is high and equates to over 6,000 gigabytes of data.

"For every Digicel student user, they are currently using these learning websites by M.E.S.C. for free. For the past six weeks, if we look at the amount of data used for these websites, it's more than six terabytes or more than 6,000 gigabytes of data that has gone to traffic for the usage of these learning websites," she said in a YouTube video, which was posted by the Ministry on its Facebook page. 

The M.E.S.C.-supported website included materials for early childhood education schools, primary schools as well as secondary schools. 

The YouTube video also featured the M.E.S.C. Chief Executive Officer, Afamasaga Dr. Karoline Afamasaga Fuata'i, who said the online platform is programmed daily to enable each class from primary to secondary level to keep up with their curriculum during the state of emergency (S.O.E.) lockdown.

"There are a lot of ways to learn on this platform, there are video clips, practice questions, challenging questions and textbooks for each subject. Students have downloaded these resources and printed them out for their own studies and learning," she said.

Vodafone Samoa and Digicel play a vital role to enable accessibility of the website whereby students were provided with free student SIM cards to access the website at no cost.

Vodafone Customer Care Head, Finau Tanuli Tinai Chan said that they have also been monitoring the usage of the website by students. 

"At the moment, we have been monitoring how the students have been using this learning platform by M.E.S.C., especially students in the college level. Vodafone is pleased to be in this partnership with M.E.S.C. and also U.N.E.S.C.O. because it is something that has made it easier for the kids to access rather than having to go to the library," she added.

Some college students shared their experiences using the M.E.S.C.-support online learning platform with Falealili College Year 13 student, Prince Vaa saying it was convenient as it enabled him to download his material.

“It has also been very useful for us students preparing to sit the SSLC exam this year, we can access previous years exam papers on the learning website by M.E.S.C. so that we can familiarise ourselves with the exam format and start focusing on what needs to be studied for the exam," he told Samoa Observer.

And Britney Samasoni of Palalaua College said that the website enabled her to learn and keep herself abreast of the curriculum in use.

"Now that we’re back to school, I’ve learned a lot more on the website. I now fully understand some of the things that our teacher hasn't taught yet so now at the moment most of what the teacher is teaching, I’ve already gone through it and written down my notes, so it just feels like a recap to me," she added.