Learning Passport: Bringing Digital Learning To Remote Communities

UNICEF’s Learning Passport addresses the critical challenge of providing quality education to children in regions without internet access. With 3.7 billion people worldwide lacking internet connectivity, many children miss out on continuous learning. This project delivers comprehensive educational content offline through a scalable, user-friendly, and durable digital tool. It ensures educational relevance with localized content and fosters engagement through multimedia and interactive elements. By overcoming significant barriers, the Learning Passport empowers children with the knowledge and skills needed for a brighter future.

UNICEF’s Learning Passport provides quality education to children without internet access. Key steps included: Challenge Identification: Addressing the digital divide, with 3.7 billion people offline. Prototyping (2019): Developing an offline tool with preloaded content and multilingual support. Content Localization (2020): Collaborating with local educators for relevant curricula. Pilot Testing (2021): Refining based on user feedback, enhancing storage, and interactive features. Deployment (2022): Scaling with low-power designs and alternative charging. Key solutions: periodic physical content updates, efficient storage, and robust power options. The Learning Passport ensures comprehensive, engaging education for underserved children.

Currently the Learning Passport is reaching over 7 million learners in 40 countries. The Offline Learning Passport is currently being piloted in Mexico, Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Zimbabwe and will soon be rolled out in Nigeria. The Offline programme is bridging the digital divide by bringing digital learning to students and teachers with limited to no internet access- helping not only increase equitable access but also ensuring children and young people have the skills and knowledge needed to navigate their digital future.

UNICEF’s Learning Passport is a multipronged digital learning programme that brings together a world-class technology platform, contextualized educational content, technical expertise, and diverse ecosystem of partners focused on improving learning and skilling for children and young people around the world. The programme is able to support learners effectively because it is highly flexible and can be adapted to specific learner needs- whether upskilling young people or supporting early childhood development- the Learning Passport delivers relevant, contextualized learning to its users around the world. Although the programme has only been available to learners since 2020, through research findings from programmes in Mexico, Guinea, UNICEF is beginning to see the programme’s positive impact on learning - which is key in contributing to the SDG including SDG 4 focused on Education.