{"id":975,"date":"2013-05-23T20:47:19","date_gmt":"2013-05-23T15:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pakorbit.com\/?p=975"},"modified":"2017-04-12T08:13:46","modified_gmt":"2017-04-12T03:13:46","slug":"sms-based-literacy-program-mobilink-foundation-and-unesco-sign-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakorbit.com\/2013\/05\/sms-based-literacy-program-mobilink-foundation-and-unesco-sign-agreement\/","title":{"rendered":"SMS Based Literacy program, Mobilink Foundation and UNESCO sign agreement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mobilink Foundation and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have signed an agreement to enhance the award winning <strong>\u2018SMS Based Literacy\u2019<\/strong> program.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2018SMS Based Literacy\u2019 program uses Short Messaging Service (SMS) to impart education to learners across Pakistan. The program was conceived by UNESCO Islamabad, who started piloting this project with Mobilink in May 2009. The fourth (4<sup>th<\/sup>) phase, in 2013, will include two projects with the first being the continuation of the SMS based literacy initiative for learners with an extended outreach across Punjab, KPK, FATA and Sindh. The second project extends the outreach of the program to help enhance the capacities of participating teachers across Pakistan.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pakorbit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/mobilink-literacy.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-976\" alt=\"mobilink-literacy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pakorbit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/mobilink-literacy.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"362\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As of 2013, the \u2018SMS Based Literacy\u2019 program will be managed under Mobilink Foundation\u2019s flagship <strong>\u2018mTaleem\u2019<\/strong> initiative. \u2018mTaleem\u2019 aims to provide education to underprivileged communities across Pakistan utilizing resources available to Mobilink Foundation. This includes initiatives such as \u2018SMS Based Learning\u2019 and \u2018Teach 2 Transform\u2019, which is an innovative program to engage Mobilink Torchbearers (employee volunteers) as teaching assistants in schools across Pakistan.<\/p>\n<p>Elaborating on the project, Dr. Kozue Kay Nagata, Director \/ Representative, UNESCO stated:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We have come a long way in this public \u2013private partnership with Mobilink and other partners. Earlier when we started, it was only for rural women, but in its upcoming phase we are also using this innovative educational approach for the youth of FATA; off course this would not had been possible without our trusted partners.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Bilal Munir Sheikh, Chief Commercial Officer, Mobilink highlighted:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The Mobilink Foundation has been the custodian of Mobilink\u2019s Corporate Responsibility initiatives since 2008, with education being one of our primary areas of focus. We look forward to working closely with UNESCO to enhance the impact of this initiative for both learners and teachers over the course of this project. As Pakistan\u2019s leading provider of cellular services, Mobilink is well placed to reach out to communities across Pakistan, especially those that are cut off from the conventional educational system.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In early 2013, the \u2018SMS Based Literacy\u2019 program won the GSMA\u2019s Global Mobile Award in the \u2018<b>Connected Life Awards<\/b>\u2019 category, and was acknowledged as the \u2018<b>Best Mobile Education or Learning Product or Service<\/b>\u2019. The program was highlighted by the competition\u2019s jury as an \u201cExcellent and needed mobile initiative with an explicit educational ideology that opens up new learning opportunities for a disadvantaged, rural group.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mobilink Foundation and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have signed an agreement to enhance the award winning \u2018SMS Based Literacy\u2019 program. The \u2018SMS Based Literacy\u2019 program&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,37],"tags":[1677,1673,1099,1674,47,1676,1679,1675,18,1678,537,1119,1680,1672],"class_list":["post-975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internet","category-telecom","tag-fata","tag-foundation","tag-kpk","tag-literacy-program","tag-mobilink","tag-mou","tag-mtaleem","tag-new-agreement","tag-pakistan","tag-punjab","tag-sindh","tag-sms-based","tag-sms-based-literacy","tag-unesco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakorbit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakorbit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakorbit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakorbit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakorbit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakorbit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakorbit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakorbit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakorbit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakorbit.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}