Handheld revolution in schools

The handheld revolution is coming to a school near you.

Seeing the improved scores and attendance in target schools in the last eight years, the Department of Education (DepEd), telecommunications giant Globe, the Ayala Foundation and handset maker Nokia on Tuesday announced the expansion of the “Text2Teach” program to 850 schools across the country.

Now in its fourth phase, “Text2Teach” turns English, Science and Math lessons into a fun multimedia experience for fifth and sixth grade students through audiovisual modules downloadable to mobile phones.

“The main feature of this program is it makes learning more interesting. We’ve sat through boring classes. Here kids learn more and you lessen the possibility of children dropping out. You have students wanting to go to school,” said Education Undersecretary for Regional Operations Lino Rivera.

Initiated in 2003, the program was introduced in 205 public elementary schools around the country, many with poor facilities and overcrowded classrooms.

Since multimedia modules can be used for large classes, the program aims to improve lesson retention by bringing to the students an engaging classroom experience.

“One of the first things we found out was the improvement in learning was much higher in under-resourced areas,” said Vicky Garchitorena, Ayala Foundation president.

She cited one school that showed improved student scores in the National Achievement Test, from an average of 33 percent before Text2Teach to 60 percent upon implementation of the program.

Pushing the program forward, the DepEd and its partner organizations on Tuesday signed a new agreement to bring it to more schools.