The Brief

Smart Communications is the Philippines largest mobile company. Through their Smart Public Affairs group, they are actively engaged in several CSR programs which include disaster preparedness, community building, livelihood and of course education. TXTBKS targets public school kids, many of whom belong to families who cannot afford e-readers. These kids usually walk miles to go to school carrying in some cases as many as 22 books to school, leaving them tired and unable to focus on their studies. What their families did have were old analog phones, while Smart had an abundance of older generation inactive sim cards.

Creative Execution

This low-tech solution proved to be so effective, Smart is currently expanding the TXTBKS project, by including more subjects and more grade levels, for immediate nationwide release to public schools. With the current shift toward smartphones, Smart had an abundance of older generation sim cards which would simply go to waste. This in tandem with the existing analog phones most less fortunate families had proved a cost effective tool for education.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

We realised: What if you could use these millions of phones to create a new brand of textbook? So over six months, we collaborated with respected textbook publishers to refine official school texts into 160-character messages. These were then programmed into the inboxes of thousands of inactive surplus sim cards. Which were then repackaged into new Smart TXTBKS. The TXTBKS were distributed to partner public schools and closely monitored. Attendance had risen by 95% and overall performance increased by 90%.

Results

We launched it in partner schools that needed it most. And a quarter after, this simple— and, in fact, low-tech— solution had made a profound sustainable impact. With school bags 50% lighter, attendance was 95%, while average test performance was 90% during implementation. And with petitions and pledges from schools, families, and education sector members, TXTBKS is going even further, with plans underway for more subjects and grade levels; kits so schools can reproduce as many TXTBKS as they need for free; and a roll-out across the Philippines.