Three thousand school children in South Sudan are expected to gain access to the internet for the first time thanks to a key partnership.

Zain South Sudan together with Chinese telecommunications specialists, Huawei Technologies, have partnered with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to provide internet access to a number of schools in the East African nation.

According to a press statement, Zain's base stations will provide power and connectivity for the project, while Huawei will give the school's computer labs by providing up to five computers and tables to each school.

Huawei is also expected to maintain the computers and offer school personnel basic training.

A new state, South Sudan was formed in 2011 after it seceded from Sudan.

According to telecom researchers BuddeComm, South Sudan has one of the least developed telecommunications and internet markets in the world.

South Sudan has a mobile penetration rate of just 19%, and internet access is less than 1%, according to BuddeComm.  

Zain South Sudan chief executive officer, Basel Manasrah said, “We are extremely committed to social development in the markets in which we operate, and this project lends itself to two areas – youth and education, which are very close to our hearts.

"Zain is dedicated to the development of South Sudan as a country, and there is no better way to aid this than through working with the youth and equipping them with the tools necessary to grow up to become successful, contributing members of society.”

Providing more detail, Zain says the project aims to also offer schools within a 100-meter radius from its base stations with connectivity. This is expected to include 1GB data per month per computer for each of the schools, says Zain.

Furthermore, the four schools selected to participate in the first phase of the project are St. Thomas Nursery & Primary School, A.I.C. Merkolong Local Church Nursery & Primary School, Buluk B Primary School, and Juba Technical Secondary School.

Further expansion of the project will be reviewed after the first six months of implementation.

Meanwhile, Zain, Huawei and UNESCO are not the first to move to launch projects that aim to connect schools in African countries.

Last month, ITWeb Africa reported that Microsoft, together with the MyDigitalBridge Foundation and Adaptrum, had successfully tested the television white spaces (TVWS) broadband pilot project in Namibia.

Microsoft said that 28 schools were connected in the pilot.

The TVWS technology has also been rolled out by Microsoft and other partners in countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and South Africa.

Tommy Hu Zhenyu , Huawei’s country manager for South Sudan said, “Education is a process of acquiring relevant knowledge, skills, and values for knowing, asserting and vindicating one’s rights."

"Education is an empowerment tool, and is therefore a positive development in the lives of young people," he concluded.

Kuwaiti headquartered Zain is one of South Sudan's leading mobile operators with  645,000 subscribers this year.