Via Afrika has its roots in two publishing companies: Via Afrika, established in 1949 and Nasou, established in 1963. Via Afrika publishes a comprehensive range of educational materials for schools, TVET Colleges and Adult Education and Training in South Africa and Botswana. These publications include textbooks, readers, literature titles, atlases, study guides, wall charts and various teacher support materials for all grades, Adult Education and Training and TVET college levels. The company also has publishing experience in Namibia, Mozambique, and Zambia.
Via Afrika has published over 1 100 school textbooks for the current South African CAPS Curriculum. These books are published as printed editions, and most are also available in three ebook formats (EPUB and ePDF for tablet computers and Flipbook for PC). Key to the development of these ebooks was the inclusion of multimedia and interactive enhancements that do not require internet connectivity to be used in class.
As part of South Africa’s drive towards preparing for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we have launched the Via Afrika Digital Education Academy. This Digital Education Academy offers various free and paid for digital education courses to teachers. These courses empower teachers with the skills, knowledge and values to successfully use technology in the classroom in a way that will ensure their learners are active participants in the Fourth Industrial Revolution world. Courses move from preparing teachers' mindsets in the Mindset Change for effective digital education course to using Android and Windows devices effectively. A new course that develops an understanding of the Fourth Industrial Revolution's origins, what it is about and how it will affect us will be available by the end of 2019. The Via Afrika Digital Education Academy was launched under a partnership agreement with the Department of Basic Education. Via Afrika Digital Education Academy courses are endorsed by the South African Council for Educators (SACE) for the allocation of five Professional Development (PD) points per two-hour training session. This assists teachers in achieving the required 150 PD points over a three-year cycle to remain registered as teachers.
Via Afrika partners with authors and content developers who are leading educationalists, including teachers, academics and Department of Education officials. This partnership enables Via Afrika to develop learning materials that make a difference. Via Afrika is also highly selective in the quality of freelancers and other service providers it contracts to add value to authors’ manuscripts.
Remaining true to its roots, Via Afrika outsources the development, printing, warehousing and distribution of all its materials to South African businesses only.
Via Afrika runs the WritePublishRead initiative in partnership with the NRF Chair in African Languages and the African Languages Association of South Africa. WritePublishRead is a free initiative that teaches authors how to publish their works as ebooks. Authors keep their copyright and set their own prices. Annually the project partners offer new authors from previously under-published languages the opportunity to participate in an assisted process where Via Afrika help the authors to get their ebooks published.
