The Chinese Academy of Sciences is designing a new type of software that will help children learn Chinese characters through cell phone games.

"We're now waiting for the software and mobile partners," Tian Feng, an associate professor with the Institute of Software at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Beijing, told the Global Times Wednesday.

In 2001, the literacy rate in China was 90.9 percent, according to UNESCO's 2006 EFA Global Monitoring report.

However, illiteracy rates in rural areas are five times higher than affluent regions in China, according to the UNDP.

Many schools in rural areas lack adequate teachers and advanced educational equipment due to insufficient funding.

"They just need one cell phone with a big screen," Tian said.

In the multimedia word game, children will be asked to recognize and write strokes from a specific character sent to a cell phone provided by the school.

Tian's research team conducted several experiments in Henan Province and in Beijing last year.

One CAS team came to Beijing's Yu Cai School for migrant children in May to conduct an experiment.

"Every child at least will learn 10 new characters in one hour," Liu Jigui, the principal of Beijing Yu Cai School for migrant children, told the Global Times.

At Yu Cai School, 13 teachers are responsible for educating 400 children. Since the school depends on fees paid by migrant children, their salary is low. Each student pays 500 yuan ($75.25) per semester, without any government support, and the teachers are paid around 1,200 yuan a month.

Some feel it's a tough job given the long hours and low pay.

"I'm looking forward to the cell phone teachers to help our children," Liu said.

Foreigners can also learn Chinese using the cell phone group games.

"I'm curious about it," said an American student in China named Adam Bell. "I'd like to have a try." (Global Times)