Family Zone poised with homeschooling tech if U.S sees mass schools shutdown

Education tech company Family Zone (ASX: FZO) is well prepared in the United States in the event there is a mass shutdown of schools to prevent the spread of coronavirus which has already seen cancellations of mass gathering across various States. 

Offering technology which supports and protects children through their digital journey, Family Zone’s software enables cybersecurity innovation enabling schools, parents, educators and children to safely interact online whilst facilitating education. 

Key to their company’s growth in the United States is the structure of public schools where Family Zone has been able to sign entire school districts to multi-year deals, and with cash paid up front. With this tech and ongoing service, the company reported a milestone where their USA sales team delivered AUD $2 million in annual contract revenue over the past 12 months from just a four person U.S sales team. 

Following the upgrade of COVID-19 to pandemic status by the World Health Organisation, more nations are halting mass gatherings which has already impacts professional sports in the U.S whilst Kevin Carey of the North America Think Tank told The New York Times that coronavirus may lead to “a vast unplanned experiment in mass home-schooling.” 

Whilst home-schooling is already a popular method of education in the United States where 2.2 million children are already home-schooled, Family Zone has extended its Classwize software to affected schools with Classwize designed for future-classrooms where teachers can manage large, mobile and virtual classes. 

Already promoted in the U.S via Family Zone’s partnership with Google for Education, the company is very well positioned to scale its technology and sales team to facilitate remote learning to American students. 

Globally as a direct result of the coronavirus outbreak, there have already been school shutdowns in Italy and Australia as the world continues its battle to contain the virus which has had more than 125,000 confirmed cases which have resulted in 4,615 deaths. 

Following news of Family Zone’s offer to assist affected U.S schools, FZO shares surged to an intra-day high of $0.10 in morning trade, a rise of 17.65% on the previous day’s close of $0.085 when the Australian market is down 1.7%.