Article written by Janine Sweeney (Business Development Lead at Pay@)
Education and economic growth go hand-in-hand. For Africa, a better education today would transform the lives of 47 million poverty-stricken people by 2043. This is especially important for sub-Saharan Africa, where challenges remain to meet global education targets.
In South Africa, the 22 000 public schools, 26 public universities, and 15 technikons will play essential roles to overcome these hurdles by empowering the youth with an enriching education. Advances in emerging technologies will also help shape the path forward in more innovative and immersive ways – from the way students learn, teachers teach, and educational institutions manage the school year.
One such solution is fintech, which has proven to be a powerful tool for both students and schools. Learners often get their first taste of financial responsibility as post-graduate students, making fintech a logical solution to pay tuition fees. Universities and technikons have incorporated fintech on a large-scale basis to streamline administrative tasks, such as processing and keeping track of thousands of payments in various formats during the academic year.
Flexibility is the future of education
Following various disruptions, such as COVID-19, to technological advancements in education, including technological literacy and collaborative software, an increasing number of students are leaning towards more flexible, accessible, and inclusive learner-centred approaches.
Smaller educational institutions, such as specialised colleges, tutors, e-learning platforms, and even technical vocational education and training colleges can provide the more adaptable learning environments needed to accommodate this. To provide this, education- based SMEs and institutions need to find smart ways to provide high-quality learning experiences that meet and even exceed the standards of large-scale educational institutions, without access to big budgets.
This is where fintech solutions, such as Pay@Go, a service powered by Pay@ – a leading
payments service and aggregator, can provide the flexibility, scalability, and reliability
needed from a hassle-free payment platform.
Why Pay@Go is the go-to solution
Pay@Go is a user-friendly payment platform that doesn’t involve complicated, technical
implementation processes. For a small education-based business or learning institution
without an on-site IT department or even a formal financial system, Pay@Go removes the
headaches and expenses associated with other traditional solutions. The reason for this is that unlike most financial software and payment platforms, Pay@Go doesn’t require back-end integration.
What’s more is that Pay@Go offers a completely integrated and extensive range of payment
options. These range from in-person cash and card payments to innovative digital options,
including in-app payments, such as Snapscan, Zapper, and Scan to Pay, to EFTs through
internet banking, to other digital solutions. Educational businesses and institutions can
simply issue requests to pay via QR code or a secure link for payment through SMS, e-mail,
or WhatsApp. The communication of outstanding balances in debtors books is also readily
resolved via Pay@Go’s bulk payment request functionality.
The recently added feature added to the platform, called ‘multi business user’, were
specially created with schools in mind.
The outcome to all of this is a more inclusive and hassle-free customer payment experience
can be provided for students. By easily keeping track of payments from various sources,
small-scale educational institutions can decrease the pressure on their limited resources
that traditional reconciliations create.
This means that when education-based SMEs and other learning institutions decide on
Pay@Go, they choose a streamlined, simplified, and safe payment platform that provides
the financial tools needed for future growth.