MOBILE PHONES IMPROVE ADULT LITERACY: EVIDENCE FROM AFRICA

Mobile phones improve adult literacy when used as a teaching aid in classes. That is the central finding of research in Niger by Christopher Ksoll and colleagues, presented at the Royal Economic Society’s 2011 annual conference. Their results indicate the potential for mobile phones as a simple and cost-effective way of improving education in low-income countries.

The authors worked with an international non-government organisation, Catholic Relief Services, to develop a programme for using mobile phones to promote reading and writing in local languages. The project began in February 2009 and now works with over 5,500 participants in the Dosso and Zinder regions of Niger.Careful analysis of the outcomes finds that:

  • Scores in adult literacy and maths tests rose 20% – and the positive impact persists even six months after the initiative.
  • Attendance in adult literacy classes was higher.
  • The average test score per dollar spent on the scheme made it more cost-effective than classes without mobile phones.

Selected villages received one phone for every five students, which was shared between them. The mobile phones were introduced after the basics – number and letter recognition were introduced – approximately three months after the start of classes. Students then learned how to make and receive calls and how to read and write SMS messages. Otherwise the curriculum was not modified.

Six months after the start of the classes, the government’s adult education service tested the students. The study randomly chose some villages to be part of the scheme and compared literacy test scores between villages with and without phones.

United Nations statistics show that approximately 18% of adults worldwide are illiterate. In Niger, 70% of adults are illiterate. To date, conventional adult literacy programmes have failed to improve adult educational outcomes in the long term.

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Mobile phones increase test scores when used in adult literacy classes in Niger. That is the central finding of this research. The results suggest that mobile phones could be a simple and cost-effective learning technology in low-income countries.

Mobile phones have been one of the most successful technologies ever introduced and adopted.There are over four billion mobile phone subscribers worldwide, including 1.7 million in Asia, 460 million in Latin America and 376 million in sub-Saharan Africa.

Despite the prevalence of poverty and the cost of voice and short message services, some of the poorer populations in the poorest countries in the world are adopting mobile phones.Given the relative success of this technology, it is not surprising that governments, policy-makers and development agencies are asking how mobile phones could be used as a development tool.

Project ABC (Alphabetisation de Base par Cellulaire) introduced mobile phones as an educational tool as part of adult literacy classes in Niger, one of the lowest-ranked countries on the United Nations’ Human Development Index.

Using rigorous econometric techniques, the researchers find that students in classes who learned how to use mobile phones received writing and maths test scores that were 20% higher than those who followed a normal literacy curriculum, and that these gains persisted six months later.

Attendance was also higher in ABC classes,suggesting that students were more motivated to learn. The intervention was not only effective but cost-effective: the increase in average test scores per pound spent was higher in mobile phone classes. This suggests that mobile phones are an effective tool to increase learning in adult literacy classes.

This finding is significant in many parts of the world, where adult literacy is often quite low. UN statistics show that approximately 18% of adults worldwide are illiterate, and in some countries the numbers are shockingly high: Niger’s education indicators are among the worst in the world, with over 70% of adults classified as illiterate.In addition, to date, conventional adult literacy programmes have not improved adult educational outcomes in the longer term.

The authors developed a modified adult literacy programme to use mobile phones as a way to promote reading and writing in local languages in collaboration with an international non-governmental organisation, Catholic Relief Services.The project started in February 2009, reaching over 2,950 literacy participants in the Dosso and Zinder regions of Niger, and expanded to over 5,500 literacy participants in February 2010.

In an effort to disentangle the effects of using mobile phones from the literacy curriculum, the programme implemented Project ABC in only half of the villages, which were randomly chosen. Participants in mobile phone villages received one phone for every five students that they shared.

The mobile phones were introduced after the basics – number and letter recognition – were introduced, approximately three months after the start of classes. Students then learned how to turn the phone on and off, how to make and receive calls and how to read and write SMS. Otherwise the curriculum was not modified.

Another two months later, classes stopped and the adult education service of the government administered tests to students. Comparing test scores between the two villages, the researchers found that participants in the mobile phone literacy programme had higher numeracy and scores relative to the conventional literacy programme. These improved test scores could be seen not only immediately after the end of the course, but also six months later.

Further research is underway to understand the economic impact of mobile phones: are farmers who sell their goods in the market able to negotiate better prices because they can inform themselves about sales prices in other markets? And how do mobile phones change migration experiences and decisions in this highly mobile population where more than 45% of households send a household member into seasonal migration?

ENDS

‘ABC, 123: Can Mobile Phones Improve Learning? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Niger’by Jenny Aker, Christopher Ksoll and Travis Lybbert