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| SMS Literacy Program |
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Creating access to education is a core part of Mobilink’s CSR initiatives. Together with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Mobilink recently signed a partnership agreement for the use of mobile phones to facilitate literacy in Pakistan. This will be the first such use anywhere in the world.
After graduating from basic literacy courses, new literates return to a non-literate environment making it difficult for them to retain their newly acquired literacy skills. This initiative uses mobile phones to develop a mobile-based, distance post-literacy programme where the new literates receive post-literacy materials as messages on a mobile thereby allowing them to maintain their literacy skills by providing constant access to reading materials.
At 52% and with more than 50 million people illiterate, Pakistan has one of the lowest literacy rates in Asia. There is a large gender gap with the literacy rate for males over 15 years at 63% while that for females it is 36%. The reasons for the prevailing situation in Pakistan are complex. One of the main reasons is the difficulty of retaining literacy skills of the new literates.
The mobile-based post-literacy programme has two parts. In the first, adolescent girls will receive interesting and informative text messages daily in Urdu and are expected to respond. This method is believed to be far more effective than conventional print based post-literacy programmes in maintaining the interest and in keeping literacy skills alive. The second part of the programme includes evaluation every month to assess literates’ gains in knowledge, interactive exercises, a glossary of educational terms and additional resources. The first phase of this programme will cover 250 learners in Punjab in the next 4 months and will be expanded in other areas on favorable outcomes. |
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