The project was implemented in two provinces Kandahar and Nangarhar, reaching 8,000 students (5,000 in Nangarhar and 3,000 in Kandahar) in 8 selected schools (4 in each province). Training was provided to 173 teachers and 35 school administrators on how to use the Liwal technology to implement this project.

Furthermore, 2,700 applications were distributed to parents to encourage reading at home. The great majority of project stakeholders were aware of the innovative teaching materials (100% of Provincial MoE staff, 86% of teachers and 87% of parents).

List of schools in which Liwal Distance School Technology was implemented:

Nangarhar:
1. Bi Bi Hawa High School
2. Ayesha Sadiqa High school
3. Ningarhar High school
4. Bi Bi Zainab High school

Kandahar:
1. Safia Ama Jana High School
3. Ahmad Shah Baba High School
3. Malalai High School
4. Aino # 1 High School

Target grade school students have had increased access to materials that have encouraged them to read. The teachers and the students utilized all digital and non-digital materials (8,206 workbooks, as well as 4,176 storybooks in Nangarhar and 2,552 in Kandahar) distributed in schools to their full extent and it was found that 97% of teachers used the materials based on the schedule that was given to them. A total of 16 smart HDTVs were distributed (2 per school). These were placed in two specific rooms in each intervention school. Workbooks linked to the lessons on the Liwal app were distributed to all the targeted students in Grades 1-3. All schools ensured physical space was made available to accommodate the creation of reading corners in all Grade 3 classes and also provided user-friendly spaces to store the TVs.

Due to the large number of students in each reading skill enhancement classes, a significant number (18%) asked that more study materials be provided. A large number of parents/community members (83%) also donated books to the school library. 74% of schools established logbooks for the reading corners, and another 80% of schools set rules and regulations for library usage. Students attended Paper Theater sessions that provided them with meaningful and engaging group-work activities that encouraged reading.

The project offers an innovative solution to improve the reading skills of early grade students in Afghanistan. By providing access to simple technologies and high-interest books via Smart TVs in classes, the project was able to improve current teaching practices in intervention schools to encourage literacy. Students who participated in the project showed significant literacy skill improvement, including increased school attendance, across eight schools in Kandahar and Nangarhar provinces. The project was also successful in ensuring that parents were more engaged in their children’s education, thus having a positive impact on the ‘home curriculum’ too. Communication between parents and schools increased, allowing for an improved home-school collaboration.

Parental engagement in their children’s education has positively increased since the Liwal distance learning technology implementation. Based on parents and teachers’ estimates, students’ absenteeism rate has decreased by as much as 90% in the target classes. School principals interviewed also believed the project could benefit other grades.

Following are the schools which participated in the pilot project:

1. Sardar M. Dawod Khan High School
2. Abdul Qasim Firdowsi High School
3. Naheed Shaheed High School
4. Ghulam Muhammad Ghubar High School

The data shows that more than 80 percent of the schools administrators showed full satisfactory from the project activities while this was only 50 percent in mid – term evaluation. Besides, 87 percent were strongly interested in continuation of the technology-based education at their schools and more than 73 percent suggest the project for other MoE schools as well.

In addition, 90 percent of the teachers stated that the training program was useful and they have learned enough.

Overall, an improvement of 11 percent is seen in the overall marks of students after the pretest, which can be interpreted as the effectiveness of Liwal technology based learning materials. Besides, an increase of five percent is indicated in target group students marks in compare to control group at the end of the project.

The effect of Liwal technology based education and methods on MoE curriculum and overall learning of students is estimated as 17 percent. Besides, 1.5 percent raise is indicated in the target group students’ marks in comparison to the control group.
When asked about the usage of Liwal – Tech application by students at home, almost 50 percent of the students said that they were using mobile for Liwal – Tech application at home. Based on the perception of principles before project implementation, not more than five percent of the students would be allowed to use mobile for the mentioned objective.
Based on the recommended points in mid-term evaluation, the second phase of the project was implemented at the start of the educational year; specific schedule and plan was prepared for schools and solar panels were provided to all target schools.

“However I am illiterate, but in an effort to help my children on Liwal technology learning material, I learn myself too. I knew nothing even the alphabet, but now I can read and write letters and some words.” A housewife (target student’s parent)

The Final evaluation indicates that the pilot project’s flow was on the favorable direction, which could support the project toward achieving its targeted goal.