Across

Across

Equipping primary school teachers with solar-powered digital audio players to develop teachers’ skills and tutor students

Project Name

Teaching Children to Read Using Low-Cost Digital Audio Players as Supplemental Instructional Tools for Both Children and Teachers

Location Implemented

South Sudan

Technology Used

Communications Technology

Competition Entered

Grant Competition 2011

Reading Skill Targeted

Pre-Reading

Status

Winner

The Challenge

UNESCO’s 2011 Education for All Global Monitoring Report stated South Sudan has some of the world’s worst education indicators. Around 1 million children—half of the primary school age population—are out of school. The primary net enrollment rate is second to the bottom in world rankings, with a net enrollment rate for girls at just 37 %. Fewer than 400 girls make it to the last grade of secondary school. There are desperate shortages of classrooms and books—and just one qualified teacher for every 117 students.

The Big Idea

Primary grade teachers in Central Equatoria, Jonglei, and Lakes states were provided solar-powered digital audio players (DAPs) with teaching resources and content in mother tongue languages. The DAPs served as professional development tools for teachers and instructional tools for literacy classes. Along with a set of mobile books, the recordings functioned as a literacy tutor for in and out-of-school children who listened to the recordings in community group meetings.

Results

Due to smaller than expected average school enrollments, the number of children impacted is approximately 26,000-27,000. Although most of the 16 nomadic cattle camps (with 3 learning groups in each) were displaced during an outbreak of conflict in 2013, those camps that Across was able to locate continued the course of study, with a few reaching the end of the primary level 2 course within 9 months.