Background

SITUATION Pakistan is in a state of education emergency! Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states “everyone has the right to education”. Despite this, 23 million children in Pakistan are out-of-school due to poverty, inaccessibility, and forced-school closures caused by COVID-19. Education is vital for protection against underage labor, child marriages, trafficking, crime, unemployment, and especially for social, economic, and political inclusion. BRIEF Telenor believes in empowering societies by connecting customers to what matters most. To further this ambition under UN SDGs #4: "Ensuring inclusive, equitable, and quality education and the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities", it wanted education to be in the grasp of every Pakistani child. OBJECTIVES • Combat illiteracy by bringing 500,000 children back to a classroom. • Increase App downloads by 50% (0.5M to 1M) & reduce dropouts by 30% by end of 2021. • Improve Telenor’s perception as a brand (NPS score).

Describe the creative idea

Telenor capitalized on Pakistan’s transformative Tele density (82%) to launch Taleemabad - Pakistan’s first ever, 24/7 open virtual education city with classrooms in the cloud where learning never stops. This Android based, government certified, free-to-access, gamified learning platform, is the country’s first Ed-Tech platform that stores the single national curriculum digitally for children from all socio-economic backgrounds. Staying in line with UN’s SDG 4 (right to quality education), it was developed and promoted as a comprehensive system that the government, private/public schools, and organizations in the ecosystem were aligned with. Taleemabad integrated tools to enable effective education using internationally recognized lessons delivered through animations, over hundreds of videos, and thousands of interactive skill-learning tests configured to peak a child’s interest in learning. It also has a portal for parents to supervise their child's academic progress, lesson planners for teachers, including offline and online marketing support for school owners.

Describe the strategy

Over 51% of Pakistanis are estimated to own smartphones (GSMA) and almost 80% of them use an Android OS in the same country where 48% of children cannot read a simple sentence by the time they complete primary education. Taleemabad’s mission was simple: to use the far-reaching power of technology to bridge this divide and provide engaging, high quality digital education to the masses. Everyone involved in the education value chain (students, parents, school-owners, principals, and teachers) were reached. However, parents of out-of-school children remained the core target. We brought a world class learning experience for their children in a free school that never shuts down! Lesson plans & teacher training modules were devised so everyone could become a great teacher. Lastly, as a school owner, Taleemabad’s technology put the entire school at their fingertips, so they could grow and sustain despite all odds.

Describe the execution

Foremost, we helped schools get digital. As positive results began coming in, we expanded our scope to become the country’s most comprehensive learning management system by forming hybrid/virtual schools and providing low-cost solutions featuring phone compatibility. Partnerships with the Federal Ministry of Education allowed Taleemabad to compress the entire national curriculum of Pakistan into one platform. The primary and middle level education package has teacher training, wellness tips, admin functions and an easy-to-use interface that public and private schools could easily manage themselves. The campaign was promoted through a YouTube channel with jingles, tutorials, and international-standard lessons classified under different subjects. The curriculum is also broadcasted free of cost on national television (PTV, ATV) to maximize reach. To ensure lesser dropouts, Taleemabad’s adaptive algorithm tracks students’ progress, and modifies lessons according to their learning abilities until their skills improve. The App is available readily accessible for every online Pakistani.

List the results

• Pakistan’s first digital education platform based on a national curriculum endorsed by the Federal Ministry of Education • Almost 2 million (52% girls) out-of-school children are back to school (120% increase than original target) • 30% of these students had never set foot inside a school before • Post lockdown, downloads rose by 600% • 8 million children consume educational content every week on National Television for free. 54% of these children are girls. 60% increase in App downloads • Schools using Taleemabad saw students’ test scores improve by 31% • 70% reduction in dropouts compared to pre-pandemic dropouts. Enrollments increased by 30% • Coverage by renowned local and international media, UN agencies, donors (The Malala Fund, GSMA, The NY Times, BBC etc.). • Telenor4G users increased by 0.5 million (16.6 million to 17.1 million). 33% increase in data consumption. A favorable increase in the Net-Promoter-Score by 3 pts.