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The use of Short Messaging Service (SMS) for education has grown in recent years, drawing particular attention to supporting school-level learners, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This renewed interest has prompted questions about how this form of educational technology could be used in the longer term. However, despite being used in many Covid-19 responses, there are few documented examples of innovative applications in this field during the pandemic, which represents a gap in the literature. As a medium for education, SMS offers potential benefits such as being cost-effective and having positive impacts on learning. In this paper, we present a case study of an educational programme rapidly implemented during the pandemic as part of the ‘Keep Kenya Learning’ program, to support learners remotely in terms of literacy, numeracy, and social and emotional learning topics. Through the case study, we describe the innovative process used to rapidly develop content for SMS, and draw upon usage statistics, quiz scores and user feedback to gain insights into its implementation with learners and caregivers in Kenya. The case study demonstrated that educational television content can be effectively adapted to mobile delivery. Furthermore, we present practical reflections on the development and implementation of SMS educational technology which will help inform future initiatives. These include considering timing in relation to school terms when planning a supporting intervention, and designing content in a modular way to allow flexibility for learners in navigating through courses.

The use of SMS messaging for education has grown in recent years, with particular attention recently during the Covid-19 pandemic. Mobile phones often have high levels of ownership in low-income contexts compared to computers, and lower connectivity requirements, which arguably make this a more equitable medium than data-heavy online instruction, for example. However, given that gender can be a factor to influence mobile device access and use, it is also important to consider educational applications through a gender lens, to avoid further exacerbating digital divides. In this paper, we present an analysis of server log and evaluation data in relation to a literacy-focused initiative for primary-aged learners carried out in Kenya as part of the Tusome programme and through the SMS-based M-Shule education platform, which does not require an Internet connection or smartphone to run. The extent of engagement with the platform varies according to gender and location within the country. The data also demonstrate a positive impact on learning outcomes regardless of learners' gender and location. Furthermore, the learning gains are shown to be relatively cost-effective in comparison with educational technology interventions in similar contexts. The findings show that this low-connectivity adaptive model has a positive impact on learning outcomes. It is a scalable approach to support a range of learners in Kenya, providing more support to learners who need it, and leading to increased foundational learning outcomes overall. As such, the findings will also be of highly relevant to other low-connectivity contexts.