President Gloria Arroyo formally oversaw the launch of BridgeIT, a 1.5-million-dollar project organized by a group that includes the UNDP, the International Youth Federation, content provider Pearson and mobile-phone manufacturer Nokia.

Under the system, teachers in some 40 elementary schools in the poorer areas of the Philippines will be able to use the text-messaging functions of Nokia-supplied cellular phones to order science videos from an electronic library provided by Pearson.

The videos are then downloaded to a digital satellite television receiver with a recorder function, connected to a television in the classrooms.

Students can then view the video as often as they want to supplement their class lessons, project proponents said.

"The purpose is not to supplant textbooks as a primary source of information but rather to supplement these traditional modes of learning with innovative tools that aid in the retention of knowledge among the children and youth," said Jaime Augusto Zobel, chairman of the Ayala Foundation.

The year-long project starts in June. If successful, the Philippine experience can be a blueprint for replicating the scheme in other third world countries.

One in five people own a mobile phone in the Philippines, where 40 percent of the population live on less than a dollar a day.

SPACE.WIRE