Institute of Social and Policy Sciences (I-SAPS), in collaboration with Jazz and GuarantCo, held a showcase event to share the success of their Mobile-based Adult Female Literacy Programme in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and the lessons learnt from the programme, which can be utilized for similar projects in the future.
The ‘SMS-based Adult Female Literacy Programme’ under the combined efforts of I-SAPS, Jazz and GuarantCo, has so far enabled over 4,000 adult females to read the newspaper, write in Urdu, perform everyday calculations and gain necessary life skills.
This is being done with the help of four specifically-designed textbooks and freely-given mobile phones in eight districts of KP, namely, Mardan, Swabi, Nowshera, Buner, Malakand, Haripur, Mansehra and Kohat, where more than three out of every five females are unable to read and write.
The chief guests for the showcase event included Ms. Anusha Rahman Ahmad Khan, Minister of State for Information Technology & Telecom, Engr. Qamar ul Islam Raja, Chairperson, Standing Committee on Education – Punjab, Ms. Judith Herbertson, Deputy Country Head – Department for International Development, Dr. Shahzad Khan Bangash, Secretary of Elementary & Secondary Education – KP, and Aamir Ibrahim, CEO – Mobilink & Warid Pakistan.
Since community ownership was deemed a cornerstone to make this Mobile-based initiative sustainable, active members of the communities were engaged, sensitised and grouped in the form of 154 Village Education Support Committees for their practical involvement in the planning and execution of the initiative. The members of these committees include representatives from all sections of the community, especially the respected elders and influential individuals.
As a result, I-SAPS and Jazz not only had an all-out community support in identification of local female teachers and learners in each of the district, but also managed to establish around 150 easily-accessible Adult Literacy Centres (ALCs), where adult females of ages between 15 and 35 years were enrolled and imparted basic literacy skills.
As the learners gained some level of literacy during their basic literacy coursework, each of them has been provided with a mobile phone in order to practice and further develop their newly acquired skills.
The program was highlighted by the competition’s jury as an “Excellent and needed mobile initiative with an explicit educational ideology that opens up new learning opportunities for a disadvantaged, rural group.”
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