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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML+RDFa 1.0//EN" "http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/DTD/xhtml-rdfa-1.dtd"> <html lang="en" dir="ltr" xmlns:fb="https://ogp.me/ns/fb#" xmlns:og="https://ogp.me/ns#"> <head profile="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml/vocab"> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/sil-favicon_0.ico" type="image/vnd.microsoft.icon" /> <meta name="description" content="It’s well known that the COVID pandemic has had a detrimental impact on the lives of young children, students and youth around the world and has exacerbated inequalities in education. The World Bank estimates that increases in learning poverty—the share of 10-year-olds who cannot read a basic text—could reach 70 percent in low-and middle-income countries. This not only affects" /> <meta name="generator" content="Drupal 7 (https://www.drupal.org)" /> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.sil.org/blog/beating-learning-poverty-africa" /> <link rel="shortlink" href="https://www.sil.org/node/191676" /> <meta property="og:site_name" content="SIL Global" /> <meta property="og:type" content="article" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://www.sil.org/blog/beating-learning-poverty-africa" /> <meta property="og:title" content="Beating Learning Poverty in Africa!" /> <meta property="og:description" content="It’s well known that the COVID pandemic has had a detrimental impact on the lives of young children, students and youth around the world and has exacerbated inequalities in education. The World Bank estimates that increases in learning poverty—the share of 10-year-olds who cannot read a basic text—could reach 70 percent in low-and middle-income countries. This not only affects children right now, it is also damaging to their future and the future of their countries." /> <meta property="og:updated_time" content="2022-04-14T15:06:55-05:00" /> <meta property="og:image" content="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/images/story/header.png" /> <meta property="og:image:url" content="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/images/story/header.png" /> <meta property="og:image:secure_url" content="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/images/story/header.png" /> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image" /> <meta name="twitter:creator" content="@SILintl" /> <meta name="twitter:url" content="https://www.sil.org/blog/beating-learning-poverty-africa" /> <meta name="twitter:title" content="Beating Learning Poverty in Africa!" /> <meta name="twitter:description" content="It’s well known that the COVID pandemic has had a detrimental impact on the lives of young children, students and youth around the world and has exacerbated inequalities in education. The World Bank" /> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/images/story/header.png" /> <meta property="article:published_time" content="2022-02-24T11:15:31-06:00" /> <meta property="article:modified_time" content="2022-04-14T15:06:55-05:00" /> <title>Beating Learning Poverty in Africa! | SIL Global</title> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/css/css_lQaZfjVpwP_oGNqdtWCSpJT1EMqXdMiU84ekLLxQnc4.css" media="all" /> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/css/css_EM9PzeHZt2AxxQ3R05nXINg9akBOG66G3hxOgWtlp2E.css" media="all" /> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/css/css_y-6OGvqwgwpR259lzJYNwvxpJm3Q1qOD_DWt90goRpM.css" media="all" /> <style>.panels-flexible-new .panels-flexible-region { padding: 0; } .panels-flexible-new .panels-flexible-region-inside { padding-right: 0.5em; padding-left: 0.5em; } 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<section id="block-system-main" class="block block-system clearfix"> <article id="node-191676" class="node node-blog node-promoted clearfix"> <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="img-responsive" src="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_1140/public/images/story/header.png?itok=rKo1TqY0" width="960" height="502" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="view view-blog-post-masthead-information view-id-blog_post_masthead_information view-display-id-entity_view_1 text-center view-dom-id-f08956bedf25f15aa5b008108c96f81d"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="views-row views-row-1 views-row-odd views-row-first views-row-last"> <div class="views-field views-field-title"> <h3 class="field-content">Beating Learning Poverty in Africa!</h3> </div> <div class="views-field views-field-name"> <h6 class="field-content">by <span class="blog-post-author">Barbara Trudell</span></h6> </div> <div class="views-field views-field-created"> <span class="field-content blog-post-post-date">24 February 2022</span> </div> <div class="views-field views-field-nothing"> <span class="field-content"><hr/></span> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>It’s well known that the COVID pandemic has had a detrimental impact on the lives of young children, students and youth around the world and has exacerbated inequalities in education. The World Bank estimates that increases in learning poverty—the share of 10-year-olds who cannot read a basic text—could reach 70 percent in low-and middle-income countries. This not only affects children right now, it is also damaging to their future and the future of their countries.</p> <p>That is why, over the past two years, SIL has been working hard to help decrease COVID-induced learning poverty, especially in Africa. </p> <section class="row-fluid row margin-top margin-bottom section-style-left"> <figure> <p><img class="image-left-style" src="/sites/default/files/photo_1.jpeg" style="float: left; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 5px; width: 400px;" />In 2021, SIL consultants participated in the new Read @ Home initiative, carrying out two book-development projects targeting at-home learners in Cameroon and Kenya. Local writers, illustrators and designers developed 431 easy-reading titles in 12 languages of the two countries, specifically intended as home-based learning materials for children while schools have been closed.</p> </figure> <p>In Uganda, SIL has been partnering with the Dutch NGO, ZOA Uganda, to provide new learning opportunities in the local language to children in the rural Pokoot community. Already disadvantaged in terms of school access for its children, the community suffered a heavy blow with the closure of its schools due to the COVID pandemic. Parents turned to more traditional practices of marrying off young girls and sending boys away to pasture animals. With the reopening of schools, reversing these choices and allowing children to attend school has been difficult.</p> </section> <p>SIL has been collaborating with ZOA to encourage the community to send their children to school once again, by providing the chance for Pokoot children to learn to read and write in the language they speak. Community mobilization activities in 2021 helped to build parent support for the Pokoot early grade reading program; the first-grade reading primer was launched in late 2021 to great fanfare, and the community is now eagerly awaiting the outcome of the first year of Pokoot-medium learning. The year 2022 will see the first year of classroom learning carried out in the language of the community itself!</p> <p class="text-center"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/photo_02.png" style="width: 500px;" /></p> <figure> <figcaption> <p class="text-center"><span style="font-size:11pt; font-variant:normal; white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-family:Arial"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-weight:400"><span style="font-style:italic"><span style="text-decoration:none">The Pokoot community celebrates the launch of the new P1 primer: “Teach and speak to your child in Pokoot!”</span></span></span></span></span></span></p> </figcaption> </figure> <p>But combatting the COVID education crisis goes beyond providing learning opportunities to young children. From 2020 through 2022, young women and older girls have been joining their elders in participating in the Literacy for Women in Africa project, carried out in local languages of Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi and Namibia. In collaboration with national Bible Societies, SIL literacy consultants are helping to produce development-oriented primers, train literacy teachers, and monitor classroom progress in five different language communities. Once these women - young and old - are able to read and write, they are empowered to benefit from COVID messaging, help their children take advantage of home-based learning opportunities, and take control of their own futures in new ways.</p> <div class="jumbotron"> <div class="content"> <p class="text-center"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/photo_03.jpeg" style="width: 100%;" /></p> <p class="text-center"><em><small>Lomwe-speaking women and girls, learning to read through the Literacy for Women in Africa project in Malawi.</small></em></p> </div> </div> <p>Yes, the COVID pandemic has had a catastrophic impact on education in Africa. But that impact can be fought, and diminished, as partners in education and development work together to provide local-level learning opportunities across the continent.</p> <footer> <hr /> <p><small><em>Barbara Trudell is the director of SIL Africa Learning & Development, a consulting unit that serves African governments, NGOs and community-based organizations in the use of African languages for learning and communication (africa.sil.org).</em></small></p> </footer> </div></div></div> </article> </section> <section id="block-block-261" class="block block-block blog-footer-links blog-footer-links clearfix"> <p> </p> <hr /> <p><a class="btn btn-default text-center" href="/blog" role="button">Back to Blog</a></p> </section> </div> </section> </div> </div> <footer class="footer"> <div class="footer-top"> <div class="container"> <div class="region region-footer"> <section id="block-panels-mini-sil-bootstrap-footer-menu" class="block block-panels-mini clearfix"> <div class="panel-flexible panels-flexible-new clearfix" id="mini-panel-sil_bootstrap_footer_menu"> <div class="panel-flexible-inside panels-flexible-new-inside"> <div class="panels-flexible-row panels-flexible-row-new-main-row panels-flexible-row-first clearfix footer-links"> <div class="inside panels-flexible-row-inside panels-flexible-row-new-main-row-inside panels-flexible-row-inside-first clearfix"> <div class="panels-flexible-region panels-flexible-region-new-column_1 panels-flexible-region-first "> <div class="inside panels-flexible-region-inside panels-flexible-region-new-column_1-inside panels-flexible-region-inside-first"> <div class="panel-pane pane-block pane-block-276 pane-block footer-logo" > <div class="pane-content"> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/sil_logo_white.png" style="width: 100px; 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