INTERNATIONAL LITERACY INSTITUTE

23 November 2004

Progress Update on Bridges to the Future Initiative (BFI) in India

In its effort to leverage the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to improve literacy and life skills in poor and disadvantaged communities, the BFI has established a collaborative partnership with key governmental and non-governmental organizations in Andhra Pradesh, India. The development process included signing an MOU with the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GOAP) Ministry of Education, and additional partnerships between the ILI and UPIASI, IIIT-Hyderabad and the Azim Premji Foundation. Principle co-sponsors of the BFI include: the GOAP, Unicef, J.P.MorganChase, World Bank, Spencer Foundation, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Secty of Education, A.P. State, Dr. S. Chellappa, and Dr. I.V. SubbaRao, Secty of Health, A.P. state, and Prof. D. Wagner. Date is Oct 04.


As a consequence of on-going discussions and planning between the various partners, the BFI was launched in A.P. state in October 2003. During the 2003-4 school year, prototype multimedia was produced, pilot testing was undertaken, and preliminary research showed that children were strongly motivated by the BFI programme.

Students in Ramanthapur using computers.

In November 2004, the BFI was expanded to 13 sites in the Hyderabad/RangaReddy region of A.P. state, with more than 250 participating youth. Further, the project was reaffirmed as a priority by the newly elected government of A.P. state. In addition, the ILI has expanded its partnership with the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in Hyderabad, through its new Center for Information Technology in Education (CITE). ILI and CITE are working together to create a comprehensive multi-media curriculum, with a focus on out-of-school youth, aged 10-22 years of age. Two major strands of software have been produced to date: (1) innovative and interactive multimedia material in Telugu that supports the rapid learning of basic reading, writing and math skills; (2) cross-sectoral content in health/sanitation that weaves literacy support into the health arena. Further work on the health strand is expected to focus on HIV/AIDS information, financial literacy, and other high-impact social information.

The BFI teacher-training program will focus on providing improved teaching quality and help transfer ICT skills among teachers who will be able to serve as facilitators at the CLTCs. Teacher/Facilitator Training for CLTC sites has been carried out by ILI in collaboration with GOAP, IIIT and TeraSoft-Hyderabad. Further development of this work is expected to be undertaken within the partnership between ILI and the Azim Premji Foundation.

The team implementing the BFI in AP state.

Both formative and summative evaluation and analysis is currently underway with the BFI in India, building on a preliminary report on the population of youth that have been attracted to the BFI programme. The evaluation now underway will compare the 250 BFI learners at entry and exit for the BFI programme, and contrast these groups with about an equal number of youth participating in more traditional (non-ICT based) programmes for literacy improvement. Funding is now sought to complete this evaluation process, to build up the strand of health-related strand of multimedia materials, and the BFI teacher training component.

For more information, contact:
Prof. Dan Wagner
wagner@literacy.upenn.edu
www.literacy.org
ILI/University of Pennsylvania