Learning

Reading, the bedrock of literacy, is the foundational skill necessary for all academic progress. Designing high-quality primary grade reading programs is essential to ensuring a pipeline of students who remain in school, achieve educational success, and contribute to economic growth.

The Reading Comprehension Interest Group of the Global Reading Network has spent the last year discussing how to ensure children understand what they read. Group meetings focused on teaching reading comprehension strategies and a range of topics including language factors, materials development, social-emotional learning connections, and assessment, which demonstrate how complex it can be to help children read with understanding.

Saide’s African Storybook initiative, launched in 2014, responds to the shortage of local language early reading materials in sub-Saharan Africa through a digital open license publishing model.

Aristarick Lyimo, Training and Curriculum Development Specialist for Reading within Reach, represented REACH at a workshop in Pretoria, South Africa, organized by All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development. Attendees included Africa USAID Missions and representatives of Ministries of Education in Africa.

A fundamental requirement in raising literacy levels is the availability of enough appropriate reading material that is affordable and of a high quality. Quality here refers to material that is culturally relevant and available in local languages. However, in South Africa, books are expensive and families prioritize necessities like food and clothing over books. Our vision is for every child to own one hundred books by the time they turn five.

Northern Education Initiative Plus is a USAID-funded education project being implemented by Creative Associates International and is focused on increasing access to education and improving early grade reading skills for children in northern Nigeria.

New books, written and illustrated for first and second graders in their native Hausa language, will soon reach thousands of Nigerian school children and positively impact their learning to read.

While an urgency exists to provide all children with access to books so they can develop literacy skills and a love for reading, a balance must be struck between quantity, speed and cost on one hand and quality on the other.