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How big of an impact will having a government funded literature program have on the country of Chad?

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I enjoy education because I plan on having an intership at a school. I want to help ensure that most children have a quality education.

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Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was already off-track to achieve its education targets. If no additional measures are taken, only one in six countries will meet SDG4 and achieve universal access to quality education by 2030. An estimated 84 million children and young people will still be out of school and an estimated 300 million student will still not have the basic numeracy and literacy skills they need to succeed in life. To deliver SDG4, education systems must be re-imagined, and education financing must become a priority national investment.

Target 4.1: Between 2015 and 2021, the school completion rate increased from 85% to 87% in primary, from 74% to 77% in lower secondary and from 54% in 2015 to 58% in upper secondary education. Even before the onset of COVID19, these rates had slowed down relative to progress in 2010-15. Looking closely at reading levels at the end of primary school, for which trend data cover 34% of the world's children, the analysis shows that global learning levels showed no progress between 2015-2019. Furthermore, learning losses due to COVID-related school closures have been documented in 4 out of 5 of the 104 countries that have carried out such studies.

Target 4.2: Participation rate in organized learning one year before the official primary entry age has stagnated at around 75% since 2015, still far from the target of ensuring that all girls and boys have access to quality pre-primary education by 2030.

Target 4.3: Among 131 countries with data from 2017 onwards, on average approximately one in six youth and adults aged 15-64 recently participated in formal or non-formal education and training. Participation is substantially higher among youth aged 15-24 (40%-50%), compared to those aged 25-55 (only 5% for most regions).

Target 4.a: Basic school infrastructure is far from universal. In 2020, approximately a quarter of primary schools globally do not have access to basic services such as electricity, drinking water and basic sanitation facilities. For other facilities such as computer facilities and the provision of disability adapted infrastructure, figures are substantially lower, with around 50% of primary schools with access.

Target 4.c: Globally, in 2020, over 14% of teachers are still not qualified according to national norms, with little improvement since 2015.

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Goal 4 | Department of Economic and Social Affairs

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Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

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One fact that was brought to my attention was that about 300 million students will lack in basic math and literature skills by 2030.

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Having learned about the large population that lacks basic literature. I started to wonder WHERE the largest portion of this population was. This data was helped collected by the U.S. Career Institute, which gave me percentages for countries with the highest and lowest literary rates.

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Which Countries Have the Highest (and Lowest) Literacy Rates in the World? - USCI

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As a whole, the world has a very high literacy rate, but the literacy rate in countries around the world varies greatly. While the global average literacy rate overall is 86.81%, some countries have a rate that is much lower than that.

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Literacy is having the ability to read, write, speak, and listen at a viable level. Having a basic level in literacy helps in communication like having conversations and understanding one another. Adults who often lack basic literature also have trouble finding jobs, experience poverty, depression and poor health.

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In the U.S., there are 43 million adults-nearly one in five - who read below a third-grade level, and over half of all adults read below a sixth-grade level. Low literacy is pervasive and entrenched, and those who experience it generally have poorer health, significantly lower incomes and prospects - and their children are more likely to face the same future. A new, comprehensive plan brings together stakeholders at a time that is ripe for scaling solutions around adult education - and offers future hope.
For Dan, the eldest of eight children, responsibilities in his dad's car repair workshop took priority over his schoolwork from the third grade. His mother could not read and his father had limited reading skills, and Dan excelled at the technical work of fixing vehicles, so his reading and writing skills never progressed. Later on, he married Carla, and they moved from Mississippi to Nebraska, together starting a successful car wash business where Carla handled the administration and Dan managed the day-to-day work of the 10-person team.

Dan's struggles with reading presented challenges even as his business grew - he memorized the flow of invoices and could respond to basic phone texts, but passed all HR and legal documents to Carla to manage. The strain intensified when they were both in their 50s. Carla was involved in a car accident and lost most of her mental processing ability over a 6-month period. Dan was unable to decipher the hospital consent forms and medication details, and struggled to communicate with the insurance agency. With Carla ill, the business lost half of its revenue, and three long-term employees were laid off. Rebuilding at this stage of life seemed like an insurmountable challenge - not to mention the job losses experienced by his team members and Carla's ongoing care needs.

43 million adults in the U.S. - nearly one in five - read below a third-grade level, and half of all American adults read below a sixth-grade level.

Millions of people experience similar outcomes to Dan, finding it difficult or impossible to fill out a job application, take a driving test, understand a news article, cast a ballot, or help their children with schoolwork. Poor literacy skills can be a lifelong disability in areas that include understanding and responding appropriately to written texts, using numerical and mathematical concepts, and accessing, interpreting, and analyzing digital information.

The range of adults affected is as broad as the reasons are behind it, from learning differences - sometimes undiagnosed - and behavioral challenges, to language barriers, and poor socio-economic or living circumstances. Over time, people in this position, and their families, risk falling further behind as more jobs demand solid literacy skills and the income gap between skilled and unskilled workers widens even further.

A Pervasive Global Challenge

Low literacy among adults is an ongoing issue that occurs all over the world. The Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) provides an international context for U.S. performance, ¹ and finds that while U.S. adults score higher in literacy than the PIAAC international average across participating countries, they score lower in both numeracy and digital problem-solving. Such comparisons to the international average paint a mixed picture of U.S. skills, but compared to higher-performing countries like Japan and Finland, the U.S. lags noticeably behind in all three domains.

Like the U.S., many countries have not seen significant improvement in literacy levels over the past 30 years or more. Some describe it as a 'silent crisis' because most people are unaware of the extent or detrimental effects of poor literacy, and many of those with poor literacy do not even identify as such. On top of that, it is surrounded by a pervasive sense of shame and secrecy, as well as fears of being stigmatized or denied opportunities. As a result, one of the most important aspects of supporting people with low levels of literacy is to increase their self-esteem and persuade them of the benefits of improving their reading and writing.

In the U.S,. a key problem is not that adults with poor literacy skills lack intelligence, capability, or motivation, but that too few-only 10%-receive help for their learning needs. The subject has limited visibility in the U.S. and funding from governments, the private sector, foundations and donors is hopelessly inadequate to address the size and scope of the challenge. Furthermore, the body of knowledge on adult low literacy remains sparse, lacking the high-quality datasets needed for research that can be translated into cost-effective, replicable solutions. Without strategic action, the situation will only get worse.

The Urgent Need to Invest in Adult Learning Needs

The National Action Plan for Adult Literacy takes steps towards untangling the complex web surrounding adult low literacy and aims to drive inclusive, collective action among stakeholders. The plan offers a cohesive, coordinating framework to attract funding, generate systems change, and create meaningful, lasting results at scale for one of the most urgent issues of our time. It is spearheaded by the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy which is working in partnership with Dalberg.

What Dalberg estimates is that governments spend under $440 per adult learner per year, less than 3% of what is spent on K-12 students, which averages about $14,500 per K-12 student per year. Working closely with the foundation, Dalberg laid out an initial goal that would see investment in adult learners doubled to 5%, which is expected to more than triple benefits in the three priority areas of access, quality and uptake of literacy support. The plan provides details of a five-pronged approach that will help achieve this, and advance change.

The Impact of Poor Literacy Skills

Low literacy takes a tremendous toll on the economy and on individuals, families, and communities, reducing income, health, and civic engagement. Adults with poor literacy skills are more likely to be unemployed or in low-paid jobs where their average annual income is $35,000-close to half of what workers with only slightly higher levels of literacy earn. About two-thirds of them earn less than $16,000 per year, and a third of those with the poorest literacy skills are unemployed.

There is also a link between poor reading and writing skills and shorter life expectancy, depression and obesity - and poor health generally.

Adults with low literacy are five times more likely to report being in poor health than adults with better reading and writing skills, and also experience higher rates of hospitalization and more frequent use of emergency room facilities. ProLiteracy Worldwide, an international nonprofit organization that supports literacy programs that help adults learn to read and write, estimates that up to $238 billion in health care costs per year are linked to low literacy.

Entire families can get caught up in the spiral of low literacy, with studies showing that children of parents with poor reading and writing skills have a 72% chance of being at the lowest level of literacy themselves in adulthood. The single most important determinant of a child's future academic achievement is their mother's level of education, and among children under six years of age whose parents did not complete high school, 88% live in poverty. In this way, the cycle of poverty and inequality is perpetuated in the U.S., affecting generation after generation.

As it stands currently, more people are incarcerated in the U.S. than in any other country in the world, with over two million Americans in state and federal prisons. A staggering 70% among them are classified as having low literacy skills, indicating a strong association between low literacy and higher rates of incarceration. Those without a high school diploma fare the worst and are more than twice as likely - 63% - to be incarcerated than college graduates.

Low literacy, therefore, comes at a hefty price.

For state and federal governments approximately $81 billion ² is spent each year on mass incarceration alone, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics-and that figure might be an underestimate. In 2017, the Prison Policy Initiative estimated the actual cost on state and federal governments and impacted families is roughly $182 billion.

There is little doubt that improving reading and writing skills at scale could help break entrenched patterns, potentially saving millions if more is invested in adult learning. According to a Gallup study commissioned by the Barbara Bush Foundation, the U.S. economy could generate an estimated $2.2 trillion more per year if all adults read at or above a sixth-grade level. The benefit to society at large would be huge in terms of higher productivity, savings, and most importantly, quality of life for individuals and families.

The Opportunity for a New Chapter

There has never been a better time than now to drive meaningful, systems-level impact. With recent developments in digital technology, the capacity to reach and teach adults with literacy challenges has never been more promising-one of the few upsides of the damaging pandemic. Furthermore, American businesses of every size, across every industry, and in every state are struggling to fill open positions with even minimally qualified workers.

At this time of opportunity, Dalberg believes that the National Action Plan for Adult Literacy has the potential to redefine how American society supports not just adult literacy but adult education in general, thereby improving the lives of individuals, families, and communities living in vulnerable circumstances - and action is urgent.
To learn more about the complex issue of low adult literacy in the U.S. and the proposed plan to address it nationally, click here.

For More Information

Joe Dougherty

PARTNER, DALBERG ADVISORS

Joe is a Partner in Dalberg's San Franciso office and previously served as Regional Director for the Americas. He works with foundations, companies, nonprofits, and social enterprises on education and workforce development, justice & equity, housing, fair employment, and related topics. Joe has more than 25 years of experience in strategy and management consulting and has worked in more than 30 countries.

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Adult Low Literacy: Opening the Book on America's Silent Crisis

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In the U.S., 43 million adults - nearly one in five - read below a third-grade level, and more than half of all adults read below a sixth-grade level. A new, comprehensive plan by the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, working in partnership with Dalberg, brings stakeholders together and offers hope for the future.

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This article showed me that about 182 million adults can't read or write. In which these areas that have low literacy rates are also reflected by the low number of graduation rates and high number of drop out rates.

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This is a simple question with a number of answers. For statistical purposes, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines a literate person as someone who can read and write a short, simple statement about their life. In recognizing its impact on poverty, health, active citizenship and empowerment, the development community recognizes that "Illiteracy is a condition that denies people opportunity."

Literacy rates are improving globally, but in terms of raw numbers, there are more people who suffer from illiteracy than there were 20 years ago. In sub-Saharan Africa, youth literacy rates (ages 15-24) have increased over the past 20 years, which suggests that adult literacy rates will increase as those youth grow. However, youth literacy rates in sub-Saharan Africa (70% in 2011) are the lowest of any region. For adults in sub-Saharan Africa, the rates have improved by 10%, but there is a disparity between literacy for women and men. While 7 in 10 men can read, only half of the women can do so. One of the largest barriers to increasing literacy is the lack of books, especially in rural areas.

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In Sub-Saharan Africa. More than 1 in 3 adults cannot read. [ 1] 182 million adults are unable to read and write. [ 2] 48 million youths (ages 15-24) are illiterate. [ 2] 22% of primary aged children are not in school. [ 3] That makes 30 million primary aged children who are not in school.

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Scientists in India conducted research with illiterate women who learned to read within six months, demonstrating the brain's flexibility. This study shows the potential for education and literacy programs to bring significant cognitive changes.

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Reading is such a new ability in human evolutionary history that the existence of a 'reading area' could not be specified in our genes. A kind of recycling process has to take place in the brain while learning to read: Areas evolved for the recognition of complex objects, such as faces, become engaged in translating letters into language. Some regions of our visual system thereby turn into interfaces between the visual and language systems.

"Until now it was assumed that these changes are limited to the outer layer of the brain, the cortex, which is known to adapt quickly to new challenges," says project leader Falk Huettig from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. The Max Planck researchers together with Indian scientists from the Centre of Bio-Medical Research (CBMR) Lucknow and the University of Hyderabad have now discovered what changes occur in the adult brain when completely illiterate people learn to read and write. In contrast to previous assumptions, the learning process leads to a reorganisation that extends to deep brain structures in the thalamus and the brainstem. The relatively young phenomenon of human writing therefore changes brain regions that are very old in evolutionary terms and already core parts of mice and other mammalian brains.

"We observed that the so-called colliculi superiores, a part of the brainstem, and the pulvinar, located in the thalamus, adapt the timing of their activity patterns to those of the visual cortex," says Michael Skeide, scientific researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (MPI CBS) in Leipzig and first author of the study, which has just been published in the magazine Science Advances. "These deep structures in the thalamus and brainstem help our visual cortex to filter important information from the flood of visual input even before we consciously perceive it." Interestingly, it seems that the more the signal timings between the two brain regions are aligned, the better the reading capabilities. "We, therefore, believe that these brain systems increasingly fine-tune their communication as learners become more and more proficient in reading," the neuroscientist explains further. "This could explain why experienced readers navigate more efficiently through a text."
Large-scale study with illiterates in India
The interdisciplinary research team obtained these findings in India, a country with an illiteracy rate of about 39 percent. Poverty still limits access to education in some parts of India especially for women. Therefore, in this study nearly all participants were women in their thirties. At the beginning of the training, the majority of them could not decipher a single written word of their mother tongue Hindi. Hindi, one of the official languages of India, is based on Devanagari, a scripture with complex characters describing whole syllables or words rather than single letters.

Participants reached a level comparable to a first-grader after only six months of reading training. "This growth of knowledge is remarkable," says project leader Huettig. "While it is quite difficult for us to learn a new language, it appears to be much easier for us to learn to read. The adult brain proves to be astonishingly flexible." In principle, this study could also have taken place in Europe. Yet illiteracy is regarded as such a taboo in the West that it would have been immensely difficult to find volunteers to take part. Nevertheless, even in India where the ability to read and write is strongly connected to social class, the project was a tremendous challenge. The scientists recruited volunteers from the same social class in two villages in Northern India to make sure that social factors could not influence the findings. Brain scans were performed in the city of Lucknow, a three hours taxi ride away from participants' homes.
A new view on dyslexia
The impressive learning achievements of the volunteers do not only provide hope for adult illiterates, they also shed new light on the possible cause of reading disorders such as dyslexia. One possible cause for the basic deficits observed in people with dyslexia has previously been attributed to dysfunctions of the thalamus. "Since we found out that only a few months of reading training can modify the thalamus fundamentally, we have to scrutinise this hypothesis," neuroscientist Skeide explains. It could also be that affected people show different brain activity in the thalamus just because their visual system is less well trained than that of experienced readers. This means that these abnormalities can only be considered an innate cause of dyslexia if they show up prior to schooling. "That's why only studies that assess children before they start to learn to read and follow them up for several years can bring clarity about the origins of reading disorders," Huettig adds.

Journal Reference:

Skeide, M., Kumar, M., Mishra, R. K., Tripathi, V.N., Guleria, A., Singh, J.P., Eisner, F., & Huettig, F. Learning to read alters cortico-subcortical cross-talk in the visual system of illiterates. Science Advances. Science Advances, 2017 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1602612

Cite This Page:

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Amazingly flexible: Learning to read in your 30s profoundly transforms the brain

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Reading is such a modern cultural invention that there is no specific area in the brain dedicated to it. Scientists have found that learning to read as an adult reconfigures evolutionarily ancient brain structures hitherto assigned to different skills.

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I learned that Nigeria’s low productivity, poverty, unemployment, and healthcare complications are results from low-literacy.

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Nigeria Comes Face to Face with a HUGE Literacy Crisis

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Top 5 countries with the lowest literacy rates.

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Top 5 countries with the lowest literacy rates.

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This website gave me insights on what countries have the lowest literacy rates and why they are linked with poverty.

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Literacy-the ability to read and write-is arguably the single most important factor in determining a person's career arc. For those who can read and write, the range of possible vocations is vast-even highly skilled, high-paying careers are within reach. For those who cannot, the options are extremely limited-even unskilled minimum-wage jobs can be difficult to obtain.

As a whole, the global literacy rate is high. The literacy rate for all males and females that are at least 15 years old is 86.3%. Males aged 15 and over have a literacy rate of 90%, while females lag only slightly behind at 82.7%. However, massive country-to-country differences exist. Developed nations almost always have an adult literacy rate of 96% or better. In contrast, the least developed nations manage an average literacy rate of only 65%. Direct country-to-country comparisons of literacy tend to be inexact. This is due mainly to two confounding factors: Many countries do not report their literacy every year, and many countries have mismatched definitions as to what qualifies as literacy.

Top 10 Most Literate Countries in the World:

Top 10 Least Literate Countries in the World:

The relationship between literacy and poverty

Poverty and illiteracy tend to go hand-in-hand. Education is often less available in poverty-stricken areas. Moreover, even when education is available, a struggling family might need their children to work and earn money instead of going to school. Most of the countries with the lowest literacy are located in South Asia, West Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa -regions which also include most of the poorest countries in the world.

There is also a gender gap in literacy: Of the roughly 781 million adults worldwide who cannot read or write, nearly two-thirds are female. This disparity is particularly noticeable in less-developed countries, in which women are often expected to stay at home and care for the house and children while the men go off to work. The developed nations of the world have much higher literacy rates with smaller gaps-if any-between the genders. For a full list of the best available information on literacy rates around the world, see the table below.

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Literacy-the ability to read and write-is arguably the single most important factor in determining a person's career arc. For those who can read and write, the range of possible vocations is vast-even highly skilled, high-paying careers are within reach. For those who cannot, the options are extremely limited-even unskilled minimum-wage jobs can be difficult to obtain.

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This website gave me Chad's literacy increases and declines from the years 2000 to 2022.

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Adult literacy rate is the percentage of people ages 15 and above who can both read and write with understanding a short simple statement about their everyday life.

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This website gave me Ukraine's literacy rates from the years 2001 to 2021.

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Adult literacy rate is the percentage of people ages 15 and above who can both read and write with understanding a short simple statement about their everyday life.

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Why does Chad have such low literacy rates?

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Why does Chad have such low literacy rates?

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This website gave me reasons on why Chad's education system struggles to keep literacy rates at a steady rate.

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Although education is a priority for Chad, the country remains faced with a real challenge to achieve goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). And this is despite the efforts of the government and its social, technical and financial partners to offer all children in the country an equal, inclusive and quality education.

The educational system is characterized by a low level of schooling, with one out of two school age children out of school[ per cent are girls. According to PASEC 2014, only 20 per cent of children who finish their primary school studies have a good foundation in reading and math in the two classroom languages, French and Arabic. The rate of illiteracy among youth is around 70 per cent, which is about more than 2 million youth who do not know how to read or write. The situation is even more alarming among girls aged 15 to 24, where the rate climbs to more than 77 per cent.

The academic level of teachers is generally low. Approximately three out of four pupils are supervised by teachers whose highest level of education does not go beyond secondary schooling.

There is little access to higher education, technical education and professional training.

The country has been affected by three humanitarian crises - in Sudan, the Central African Republic and Nigeria. These crises have created added pressure on the educational system in Chad, with more than 600,000 refugee children in need of schooling.

The System of Information and Educational Management (SIGE) acknowledges more than two years of delay in the generating of statistical data. This does not allow for proper planning and monitoring.

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Although education is a priority for Chad, the country remains faced with a real challenge to achieve goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). And this is despite the efforts of the government and its social, technical and financial partners to offer all children in the country an equal, inclusive and quality education.

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Why does Ukraine have high literacy rates?

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Why does Ukraine have high literacy rates?

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This website gave me information on why Ukraine's education is successful. This is reflected by their high literacy rates.

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Education Policy Data Center | Making sense of data to improve education

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Chad has the lowest literacy rates but most of the countries that follow it are all located in Africa.

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This website showed me Mali's struggles like poverty and no access to schools which are both common problems that occur in most African countries with low literacy rates.

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Mali has a literacy rate of 38.7% for ages 15 and above - ranking them as one of the 10 countries with lowest literacy rates in the world. Many families in Mali struggle to send their children to school due to poverty, lack of access to school, and cultural expectations.

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Using Ukraine as a guide to raise literacy rates. Having education be required can decrease the number of drop outs and children that don't go to school leading to a higher literacy rate.

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Literacy (pysmennist). The ability to read and write in a person who has reached a certain age (nine years being the age standard commonly used in Ukrainian lands for statistical purposes); a distinction is made between full and partial literacy, or the ability to read but not write. At the beginning of the 20th century the majority of the population in Ukrainian lands was illiterate, a result of the state neglect of education (in lands ruled by Austria-Hungary), the absence of legal provision for enforcing compulsory universal education (in lands ruled by Russia), and a weakly developed network of schools. Instruction in foreign (non-Ukrainian) languages and the short length of the school year also hindered full literacy, even among elementary schools graduates. Concerted efforts aimed at increasing literacy were made in Russian-ruled Ukraine by literacy societies (such as Kyiv Literacy Society and Kharkiv Literacy Society) and in Western Ukraine by Prosvita societies.

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I am aware that there are children and older people who physically cannot go to school to get basic literature. By providing educational resources like books to everyone we can help people that have little to no basics in literature.

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World Literacy Foundation - Changing Lives Through Literacy

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The World Literacy Foundation is on a mission to ensure that every child has the opportunity to acquire literacy skills and books to reach their full potential.

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I liked the article I found from "worldliteracyfoundation.org" that gave me the idea of bringing education to the people in need. Of course teachers would be the most proficient option for literature, but handing out informative books is a first to help have everyone know basic literature.

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Having the government help fund literacy programs would help give a large boost in literacy rates. Having a program that primarily teaches literature will have a massive positive boost in employment, graduation, and economical growth.

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Uncover eye-opening US literacy statistics and discover the path from illiteracy to empowerment.

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What things can hinder the performance of having this literature program?