The student won $ 1000 in funding, and next approached the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for support. Hama took part in a competition after the Topflights Arts and Science Conference had invited pitches. They automatically visit websites, following the available links and evaluating the content of the pages. Examples of bots include web crawlers of internet search engines.

A bot is a computer programme that performs repetitive tasks largely automatically. In this setting, Hama came up with the idea of a WhatsApp bot providing educational materials to both students and teachers. Most parents cannot afford to buy internet data, and many students do not have laptops. It matters that Zimbabwe is experiencing its worst economic crisis in decades. However, not every student is equipped to attend lessons on digital platforms. Some schools have since introduced online learning as an alternative. It reversed this policy in January, however, in view of surging case numbers.

With Coronavirus cases being contained in October, the government gradually opened schools again. At the time, the government imposed a nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Zimbabwe’s schools were shut down in March 2020, when the country recorded its first death. This helps mitigate the impacts of school closures due to the Coronavirus pandemic in Zimbabwe. Trueman Hama, an advanced level student at one of Harare’s top high schools, has co-developed a WhatsApp chatbot to assist other students and teachers with learning materials.

What is whatsapp bot