After a nationwide teacher strike left students unprepared for final exams the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa has lined up volunteers to offer tutoring support via a popular mobile phone messaging platform.

Final exams in the country are less than a month away and student will require a passing grade to graduate. In the face of time constraints and personnel deficits students are being directed to download study materials and access tutors via MXit.

MXit is messaging services similar in many ways to AIM or Skype (News - Alert). Mobile internet use has exploded in South Africa recently, and the popularity of MXit makes it an ideal way for the young people to actively prepare and collaborate with tutors in absence of teachers.

Over a 1000 messages can be sent on the messaging service can be sent for a Rand, which is about 15 cents U.S. "MXit is cheap and efficient," said Laurie Butgereit in a statement Thursday. Butgereit is heading up the effort which is called Dr. Math. She created Dr. Math while helping her son and his friends prepare for the exams using the messaging program.

Student access the service by going to the company’s website and finding it under the “MXit cares” tab.

The teacher strike ended on Sept 6, but students have protested throughout the country that the time lost has left them unprepared for exams. Demonstrations have erupted throughout South Africa and have left at least one dead when police officers opened fire on a group of protesting students, killing a 17-year-old girl. There is hope that the mobile initiative will help calm dissident students.

"It is a perfect opportunity for South Africa to roll up its sleeves and help" she said. "Dr. Math is currently helping 12,000 learners on MXit, but we could be helping so many more if we had additional volunteer tutors." More than 100 tutors have already signed up to help.

Chris DiMarco is a Web Editor for TMCnet. He holds a master�s degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University. Prior to joining TMC (News - Alert) Chris worked with e-commerce provider Suresource as a contact center representative and development analyst. To read more of Chris� articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Chris DiMarco