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Good practice Imported

Kiribati Learning Passport — UNICEF and Microsoft's Offline-First Digital Classroom Reaches Outer-Island Students

Kiribati · Tarawa · See the Kiribati profile · See the Tarawa profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 40% 53/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Launched Sept 2021, Kiribati's Learning Passport is an offline-capable platform by UNICEF, Microsoft and the Ministry of Education with locally made video lessons. Over 900 people registered in its first months; no independent outcome evaluation exists yet.

over 900
People registered in the first months (2021)
roughly 2 million
Global Learning Passport registered users (February 2022)
more than 20
Countries with Learning Passport deployment (February 2022)
80/100
Anecdotal quiz score (Bikinibeu student) (2021)
Kiribati Learning Passport — UNICEF and Microsoft's Offline-First Digital Classroom Reaches Outer-Island Students Kiribati Learning Passport — UNICEF and Microsoft's Offline-First Digital Classroom Reaches Outer-Island Students

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Kiribati Ministry of Education, UNICEF Pacific & Microsoft
Period
Launched 3 September 2021, ongoing
Keywords
education, digital inclusion, offline learning, EdTech

Context

Kiribati, a Pacific nation of 33 low-lying atolls with unreliable connectivity, launched the Learning Passport on 3 September 2021 -- an offline-first digital classroom built by the Ministry of Education, UNICEF Pacific and Microsoft in response to COVID-19 school disruptions.

Objectives

The platform aims to give students continued access to lessons despite unreliable internet, letting them download content offline and sync progress once connectivity returns.

Activities

UNICEF trained teachers to record locally developed video lessons and quizzes for several grade levels, supplemented by global content; outreach combined school campaigns with SMS messages, and UNICEF runs ongoing feedback sessions with teachers and students.

Results

Over 900 people registered within the platform's first months and the initiative was named one of TIME's Best Inventions of 2021; globally, the Learning Passport network passed roughly 2 million registered users across more than 20 countries.

Conclusions

Evidence for Kiribati specifically remains descriptive -- registration counts and a single anecdotal quiz score -- with no independent evaluation yet of reach across the outer islands or effect on learning outcomes.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years)
Staffing & skills
Kiribati Ministry of Education staff, UNICEF Pacific technical and financial support team, Microsoft Community Training technology team, trained local teachers producing video lessons

Conditions for success

  • offline-first design suited to low-connectivity outer islands
  • locally developed video lessons paired with global supplementary content
  • ongoing feedback sessions with teachers and students to refine content
  • SMS-based outreach to reach families without home internet

Common failure modes

  • no data disaggregates uptake or outcomes by island, gender or income
  • no documented data-protection or child-safeguarding framework for the Microsoft-hosted platform
  • Kiribati-specific financing beyond the initial UNICEF-Microsoft partnership is not documented

Where it fits

Governance type
government ministry with UN agency and corporate technology partner
Scale
national (33 atolls)
Income level
lower-middle income / small island developing state

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes Philanthropic / foundation funding

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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