GOVERNMENT yesterday said it had connected more than 400 schools to the internet.

Speaking at a post-Cabinet briefing yesterday, Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa said this was part of government’s ongoing project to accelerate the national e-learning strategy.

“Four hundred schools from all the provinces across the country were connected to the internet. This is part of an ongoing programme to accelerate the implementation of the national e-learning strategy,” she said.

The connection of schools to the internet is part of the 1 688 projects that were implemented during the period January to December 2021.

“Out of these, 657 projects were fully completed. Implementation of 1 031 is ongoing”

According to Unesco, over 1,2 billion learners across the globe missed out on lessons owing to the COVID-19-induced school closures.

In Zimbabwe, while virtual learning presented the best opportunity for learners to catch up, the high cost of data, poor network connectivity in the rural areas and poverty meant a considerable number had no access to learning materials during the lockdown.

Mutsvangwa also revealed that less than 40% of the households were using grid electricity.

“Cabinet reports that 33,7% of the households are using grid electricity, while 28,3% are using off-grid electricity such as solar, wind and biogas,” she said.