BBC Janala
- Year: 2010
- Award: World Summit Award
- Category: Learning & Education
- Producer: BBC World Service Trust
- Country: Bangladesh
- URL: https://www.gov.uk/dfid-research-outputs/bbc-janala-mobile-service-a-response-to-context-and-user-experience
BBC Janala is a mobile service taking part in a nine-year English language education programme to help 25 million people in Bangladesh develop their language skills. The initiative called English in Action (EIA) runs from 2008-2017 and offers a tool for better access to the world economy.
BBC Janala is multi-platform: television programmes place English at the centre of young people’s learning; a website and social networking tools create a country-wide community of learners; audio lessons and SMS services turn the mobile phone into a low-cost learning device for people previously denied the benefits of English-language education.
The BBC’s baseline survey identified 33 million mobile phone users between 15 and 45 years of age in Bangladesh today, of whom 84% want to learn English. Sixty per cent reported that they would like to try using their mobile phone to learn English.
