Mobile Education pilot project aims to mitigate the educational gap experienced by Afghan girls due to restrictions on their school attendance.
In Afghanistan, girls are not allowed to attend school beyond the sixth grade due to educational restrictions. By leveraging Mobile Education, this initiative seeks to provide comprehensive learning opportunities in academic subjects as well as in essential Transversal Competencies. This approach intends to
- empower Afghan girls
- foster capacity building, and
- ensure no girl is left behind in receiving basic and advanced education.
The pilot project attempts to target 100 girls in Afghanistan, age 13-18. The targeted students’ socio-economic backgrounds is low-income and/or rural areas. Some urban students may join too.
The students will be recruited via our collaborative partners:
The goal of the pilot project is to develop an operating model that can be scaled in the future so that education can be offered to thousands of Afghan girls with the help of mobile distance learning.
Curriculum
The curriculum is designed to cater to the diverse needs of Afghan girls, encompassing:
- Academic subjects: Mother tongue (Dari/Pashtu), Mathematics, Sciences, Humanities, and English, tailored to different learning levels.
- Transversal competencies: Focused on socio-emotional skills, health education, entrepreneurial skills, and fostering participation and involvement towards building a sustainable future.
- Online learning support: Strategies to utilise mobile messaging and online platforms for engaging and effective teaching.
- Student work evaluation: Techniques for assessing student work remotely, ensuring academic integrity and meaningful feedback.
- Personalisation and differentiation: Methods to adapt teaching to meet the varied learning needs and styles of students.
- Trauma-informed pedagogy: Approaches to address the emotional and psychological needs of students, particularly girls who face barriers to education.
Methods
Recruitment and training of educators: 11 women Afghan teachers, either residing in Afghanistan or the diaspora, will be recruited via our collaborative partners Educate Girls Now (EGN) and Afghan Women Support (AWS) and trained by the KVS Foundation in mobile education methodologies, specifically using instant messaging, e.g. WhatsApp for educational purposes. The education will be provided with daily input of messages and tasks, as well as support for students to provide consistency. This training is in English and will cover creating educational groups, utilising multimedia resources like text, emojis, and photos, and effective strategies for evaluation and feedback.
Language of instruction: Education will be provided in Dari and/or Pashtu to ensure accessibility and comprehension.
Support structure: The teachers will be supported by an expert in mobile education and provided technical support on mobile learning. This support is in English.
Educational delivery: Through Instant mobile messaging, lessons will be structured to accommodate various learning levels, enabling personalised feedback, and fostering an interactive learning environment. More students/families have mobiles than PCs, and the use of mobile phones for education purpose is also more cost effective.
Iterative development work: The project will be developed throughout the pilot, assessing it weekly with the teachers and engaging the students in the develop work with weekly feedback. This iterative nature of the project will ensure that the teaching and learning is on target and motivating, as well as delivering teaching and learning at the right level.
Expected results
Educational engagement: Increased access to education for Afghan girls, providing a pathway to learn and grow despite existing barriers to formal education.
Skills development: Enhanced academic knowledge and transversal competencies, equipping girls with the skills necessary for personal development and societal contribution.
Empowerment: Empowered girls who can contribute to their communities and envision a sustainable future. Also enhanced capacity of Afghan teachers to effectively use mobile technology for distance education, making education accessible to students irrespective of their geographical and social constraints.
Capacity building: Established a scalable model of mobile education that can be adapted and expanded to wider student participation and more regions, contributing to the global effort of providing quality education for all (SDG4).
