The Philippines
Our work in The Philippines
Since 2022 Youth Impact has worked with partners in the Philippines to deliver mobile education tutoring led by government teachers. The program, named mEducation in the Philippines, uses basic phones to call students, deliver targeted tutoring, and catch them back up to grade level.
3,000
students
11
regions
250
teachers trained
Context
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Students in the Philippines scored second-lowest out of 79 countries in the 2018 PISA mathematics assessment. The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic was particularly severe in the Philippines, where schools were closed for over two years, exacerbating the learning crisis. In addition to the pandemic, the Philippines is a context where disruption risk is common, with the country ranking first among 193 in the 2022 disaster risk global index. Students in the Philippines are at risk of disrupted education from events such as cyclones, typhoons, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, droughts and conflict. These events emphasize the need to prioritize access to quality education in emergency situations.
The intervention​
In the Philippines, the local name for the ConnectEd program is mEducation. Learn more about the program here.
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ConnectEd is a phone-based tutoring program that delivers targeted instruction and foundational maths and literacy lessons. Designed for low-connectivity settings, it boosts learning using a basic mobile phone, with no internet and no apps required.
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Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) improves foundational numeracy and literacy outcomes in primary school children. Instead of grouping students by age or grade, TaRL uses fun techniques to teach them at the level they are currently at, ensuring every child gets the instruction they need to succeed.
Spotlight​
Remote tutoring has been particularly effective in the Philippines, a nation of over 2,000 inhabited islands where virtual communication is often the most practical option. The difficulty of holding centralized, in-person meetings has pushed us to innovate and build a virtual training model, an investment that positions us well for future scale. We have successfully piloted a three‑day TaRL training for teachers in the Philippines delivered entirely online, combining live demonstrations from our headquarters in Botswana, a pre‑recorded video package, and real‑time interactions with schools across the country.
Government partnership​
Following the successful conclusion of a multi-country RCT of mEducation, the Philippines Department of Education (DepEd) sustained delivery of mEducation, expanding to nearly 240 schools and confirming impacts on reducing innumeracy. In 2024, DepEd piloted Teaching at the Right Level in eight schools, showing strong improvements in foundational numeracy. Building on these results, the Philippines government has expressed strong interest in partnering to deliver mEducation and TaRL nationwide, with over 15 School Division Offices signing letters of intent, regional and division offices committing resources, and a Memorandum of Agreement with the national government underway.
Partners
