Our AI writing assistant, WriteUp, can assist you in easily writing any text. Click here to experience its capabilities.

Covid Crisis Drives Global Increase in Learning Poverty

View Original View Raw

Summary

International Literacy Day is a global observance dedicated to promoting the importance of literacy as a human right and as a driver of sustainable development. Despite progress, illiteracy remains a global issue, and the COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented shock to global education. A new report from the World Bank, UNICEF, FCDO, USAID, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has found that the learning poverty rate (the percentage of children who can't read a simple text with comprehension by age 10) has risen from 57 to 70 percent in low- and middle-income countries between 2019 and 2022. The report calls for urgent action to be taken to address the learning crisis that predates COVID-19 and to recover learning that was lost due to the pandemic.

Q&As

What is International Literacy Day?
International Literacy Day is a global observance dedicated to promoting the significance of literacy as a human right and a powerful driver of sustainable development.

How many people lack basic reading and writing skills in 2020?
More than 750 million people aged 15 and older are estimated to lack basic reading and writing skills in 2020.

What is the learning poverty rate across low- and middle-income countries?
The learning poverty rate, i.e. the share of children who cannot read a simple text with comprehension by age 10, has risen across the globe between 2019 and 2022, climbing from 57 to 70 percent in all low- and middle-income countries.

What impact has Covid-19 had on children's ability to read?
The pandemic has been an unprecedented shock to global education whose consequences will be felt for years, with more than a billion children affected by school closures and hundreds of millions cut off from remote learning programs.

What actions are needed to address the learning crisis?
Urgent action is needed to recover and accelerate learning, with core policies that can help recover learning lost to the pandemic also addressing the deeper underlying learning crisis that predated Covid-19.

AI Comments

👍 International Literacy Day reminds us that literacy is a fundamental human right and a catalyst for positive change. This report is a great reminder of the importance of education and how the Covid crisis has made a pre-existing learning crisis even worse.

👎 The learning poverty rate has risen drastically since 2019, and with the disruption of education systems due to the Covid pandemic, the issue of illiteracy remains a huge hindrance to development around the world. Urgent action needs to be taken to address this growing issue.

AI Discussion

Me: It's about the global increase in learning poverty due to the Covid crisis. The article states that due to the pandemic, more than a billion children have been affected by school closures and hundreds of millions have been cut off from remote learning programs. This has caused the learning poverty rate to increase from 57 to 70 percent in all low- and middle-income countries.

Friend: Wow, that's really concerning. It's clear that the pandemic has had a huge impact on education and has exacerbated the pre-existing learning crisis.

Me: Absolutely. The article calls for urgent action to be taken to help recover and accelerate learning. It's essential that we focus on providing quality education to all children, especially those in low- and middle-income countries, in order to reduce poverty, improve health outcomes, and foster gender equality.

Action items

Research and identify organizations that are actively working to reduce learning poverty in your local area.
Reach out to local schools and offer to volunteer your time to help students who are struggling with literacy.
Donate to organizations that are working to reduce learning poverty globally.

Technical terms

Covid Crisis: A global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) that began in late 2019.
Learning Poverty: The inability to read and write basic texts with comprehension by age 10.
International Literacy Day: An annual global observance dedicated to promoting the importance of literacy as a human right and a powerful driver of sustainable development.
UNESCO: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, an agency of the United Nations that promotes international collaboration in education, science, and culture.
World Bank: An international financial institution that provides loans and grants to developing countries for capital programs.
UNICEF: The United Nations Children's Fund, a United Nations program that provides humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in developing countries.
FCDO: The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the British government department responsible for promoting the United Kingdom's interests overseas.
USAID: The United States Agency for International Development, an independent agency of the United States government that provides economic, development, and humanitarian assistance around the world.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: A private foundation founded by Bill and Melinda Gates to support initiatives in global health, education, public libraries, and other areas.
HTML Code: Hypertext Markup Language, a computer language used to create webpages.
CMS: Content Management System, a software application used to create and manage digital content.