Building a Brighter Future: Promoting Literacy in the Digital Age

Promoting Literacy in the Digital Age: A Global Imperative

As we come together to acknowledge this year's International Literacy Day, the theme centers around enhancing literacy in our digital era. However, it is crucial to remember the staggering 234 million children living amidst severe humanitarian crises who desperately need our help in accessing quality education.

Reading serves as the fundamental building block for learning, offering children a pathway out of poverty. For these boys and girls, mastering reading opens up opportunities to write their own futures, become leaders, and develop the skill sets essential to thrive in our rapidly evolving world. In this context, the commitment from governments, donors, UN agencies, civil society, the private sector, and local organizations presents a glimmer of hope.

In 1979, UNESCO reported that merely 68% of the global population was literate. Fast forward to today, and that figure has increased to 86%. Despite this progress, around 250 million children still cannot read basic texts, with the situation becoming more acute for those affected by crises. The embrace of digital transformation brings challenges, especially for children with limited access to technology, electricity, and quality learning environments. For instance, in sub-Saharan Africa, only one-third of primary schools have electricity. One can only imagine the difficulties faced by a girl living in a displaced persons camp in countries like Burkina Faso or Sudan.

Bridging the Digital Divide

Education Cannot Wait (ECW) is stepping up to meet these challenges. With funding from strategic partners, ECW is implementing programs aimed at providing foundational learning opportunities to children affected by the combined pressures of conflict, climate change, and forced displacement. Our investment in teaching these children to read and write represents a commitment to ending cycles of hunger, poverty, displacement, and insecurity—now and in the future. This is also a collective investment in the transformative potential of education.

Our initiatives are producing measurable results. In fact, 88% of ECW's Multi-Year Resilience Programmes reported enhanced literacy and/or numeracy outcomes. For instance, in Uganda, primary school students involved in ECW projects saw an increase in basic reading skills, climbing from 18% to 34%. Notably, in upper primary levels, literacy rates surged dramatically from 40% to 83%, with girls outperforming boys (38% versus 31%). Similarly, refugee children benefited greatly, where literacy rates in refugee schools improved from 7% to 34% for lower primary and from 33% to 83% for upper primary.

Schools supported by ECW in Niger reported remarkable gains, with sixth graders achieving a 10% rise in math and a 24% increase in French when compared to control schools. In Pakistan, ECW is funding Accelerated Learning Programmes for children who have fallen behind due to crises. Initially, these children correctly answered only 20% of the assessment questions; however, by the end of the programme, their scores soared to 59%, comprising improvements from 20% to 60% for girls and from 19% to 56% for boys.

The Critical Nature of Literacy

For these children, literacy transcends mere memorization or book reading; it fosters critical thinking skills essential for adapting to our fast-paced world. Literacy is foundational to peace and resilience, especially when confronting global challenges like climate change. Therefore, bolstering support for children and adolescents caught in crises must be a priority.

While ECW has established the necessary funding frameworks and partnerships to support these vital educational efforts, there is an urgent call for additional financing to scale up and sustain these initiatives. By doing so, we can maintain hope for the world’s most vulnerable children, guaranteeing that they can access the quality education they rightfully deserve.