Around the world, enthusiasm for education technology (EdTech) is growing. Research has found that EdTech can boost test scores and ease the burden for schools and teachers. Despite these documented benefits, the cost of EdTech may be prohibitive for low-resource environments. Providing devices to every teacher and/or student can be prohibitively expensive — and that’s before accounting for the additional costs of learning software, electricity, and internet. Given these potentially high expenses, it is possible the rise of EdTech may even deepen learning inequality if only wealthy areas or private institutions can afford these tools.
As outlined in the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training (MoFEPT)’s National Distance Education Strategy, smartphones present a possible solution to reach learners in low resource environments. With a cost as low as USD 50 in Pakistan and wide network availability, smartphone adoption has risen and contributed to the mobile teledensity of 79% in 2023 (Pakistan Telecom Authority, 2024). High smartphone penetration and low costs raise the possibility that EdTech programmes can either provide cheap devices or leverage teachers’ existing personal smartphones, thereby making EdTech far more accessible and scalable (Zubairi et al., 2022). Teachers may also feel more comfortable using devices with which they are already accustomed, and this saves them from having to port around another device. This approach, however, requires teachers to understand how to navigate a new app, which may not come naturally to all users. Getting teachers the support they need to leverage a new technology can make or break the success of a programme.
The low-cost approach of using smartphones is key to the Targeted Instruction in Pakistan (TIP) program. TIP is a personalised learning program for primary schools to help fill learning gaps in math, Urdu (the national language), and English. In addition to the suite of lesson plans, teaching-learning materials, and learning assessments, the program is accompanied by a smartphone app (“the TIP Tech Tool”) that teachers can download on their devices to help them run the program. The tool allows teachers to monitor learning progress and gaps, access lesson plans and teaching materials to fill gaps, sort students into peer learning groups, watch training videos, and other tasks that are otherwise labour-intensive and prone to error. Wifi dongles were provided during training to allow teachers to download the app, and then they could choose whether to use personal data plans or periodic wifi connections to sync their data. Teachers without a smartphone can borrow another teacher’s device or use school-provided tablets. The tool was co-designed by local education experts and engineers at the Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan with regular input from schools and teachers, specifically for use in low-resourced, low-digital literacy settings.