If before the pandemic about 53% of children were not able to read a simple text by the age of 10, unfortunately with the pandemic this has shot up to 70%, says Jaime Saavedra-World Bank’s Global Director for Education.
- In India, learning poverty has shot up from 54% to 70% (The Hindu).
What is learning poverty ?
- The indicator for learning poverty combines the share of primary-aged children out-of-school who are schooling deprived (SD), and the share of pupils below a minimum proficiency in reading, who are learning deprived (LD).
Learning Poverty (LP) = [LD x (1-SD)] + [1 x SD]
- The learning poverty indicator allows us to illustrate progress toward SDG 4’s broader goal to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all.
Suggestions to reduce learning poverty
- Open schools,
- reach every child to ensure that all of them re-enroll,
- assess learning to know where kids are today,
- prioritise teaching the fundamentals,
- increase catch-up learning which will require very effective instructional time,
- teachers will require a lot of support to be able to group students within the classroom not according to the grade or according to the age, but according to where they are,
- work on emotional support for both children and teachers.
(References: The Hindu and World Bank)
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