In a wonderfully ambitious new project, BBC World Service Trust is attempting to harness the power and pervasiveness of mobile phones to provide English language lessons for the 50+ million mobile users in Bangladesh. This first-of-its-kind effort marks the first time that mobile phones have been used as an educational tool on this scale.

The project plans to offer English learning tools via the mobile phone, television, and Internet with BBC making Audio and SMS lessons available through its BBC Janala portal (‘Window’), which transforms a mobile phone into an affordable “tutor” capable of coaching Bangladeshis through 250+ lessons.

BBC's Janala portal

Another key component is the economics: in order to achieve maximum reach, the BBC has teamed up with all six of Bangladesh’s mobile operators, who have agreed to cut the cost of calls to the service by up to 75%. The result of their cooperation has dropped the cost of the three-minute phone call “lessons” to about 3 taka (4.3 US cents). Because most Bangladeshis live on about $3.30 per day, the cost of the program is clearly an important consideration for potential users.

The program appears to be a success, with more than 300,000 people signing-up before its official launch.

BBC Bangladesh Buzz

Alongside this, last month saw the start of BBC Buzz, a weekly primetime youth entertainment TV show on ATN Bangla, which will place English learning at the centre of young people’s lives in both Bangladesh and the UK. Here bilingual young presenters present features around aspirational individuals from Bangladesh and the Bangladeshi Diaspora in both Bangla and English.

Demand for English is high amongst 15 to 45 year olds, with 84% telling the BBC they want to speak the language and 60% prepared to learn on their mobiles. English is also important for securing jobs in Bangladesh, where about 71% of employers are looking for workers with ‘communicative English’.

Caroline Nursey, Director of the BBC World Service Trust explains:

“We have learnt that demand for English is extremely strong in Bangladesh. It is central to people’s aspirations to get a better job, educate their children and connect with the world.

Media usage, in particular mobile, now provides an unprecedented opportunity to meet this demand and provide what promises to be the most exciting and accessible effort to use English to improve the lives of people in the developing world today.”

The project is funded by the UK Department for International Development through English in Action, a major educational initiative launched in 2008 to raise the language skills of 25 million people by 2017.

[via PSFK and BBC]