World Bank Group
World Bank Group
01/24/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/22/2025 18:05
International Day of Education 2025: Leveraging digital solutions for equitable education systems
The 2025 International Day of Education inspires reflections on the power of education to equip individuals and communities navigate, understand and influence technological advancement. This year the focus is "AI and Education: Preserving Agency in a World of Automation."
Digital technologies are permeating education at unprecedented speed and scale. The possibilities of using digital solutions to enhance teaching and learning, and to revolutionize educational processes bring opportunities and challenges. On #EducationDay, we explore how countries can leverage digital solutions to build equitable, relevant, and resilient education systems with a positive impact on learning outcomes.
Empowering Adolescent Girls: The Agency to Navigate Digital Technologies
Watch recording | Jan 22, 2025
Hear from global experts on how digital technologies can bridge the gender divide, the potential risks they present for adolescent girls, and the critical role that education and digital literacy can play in mitigating those risks. The discussion will uncover effective practices and innovative solutions to empower adolescent girls to harness technology responsibly.
PUBLICATION: Digital Pathways for Education: Enabling Greater Impact for All
Download Report [PDF]
Report Launch Event | January 29, 2025 | 8:00 - 9:30 AM EST
How can countries leverage digital solutions to build equitable, relevant, and resilient education systems with a positive impact on learning outcomes? The event and publication address what policymakers can do when undertaking digital transformation reforms in education and skills development systems.
International Day of Education is a chance to remember that learning begins well before children enter school. All children deserve to benefit from the power of books and stories. Making books available to all children is essential if we are to end learning poverty and equip children with the skills they need to succeed in the jobs of the future. |
#StartTheStory with us!
To mark The International Day of Education on January 24, 2024, the hashtag #StartTheStory on social media highlighted the pivotal power that books, stories, and reading materials have in transforming lives and building better futures.
Why Reading with Children Matters
Becoming a reader is a complex process which requires lots of support and practice. Even after children start school and are taught the mechanics of reading, the process continues as children master more complex reading skills and move from learning to read to using reading as a tool to learn. Children need varied books (including picture books, non-fiction books, and textbooks), support and encouragement from their parents and caregivers, effective literacy instruction in school, and regular opportunities to read.
Having access to children's books alongside support and encouragement from parents and caregivers makes a significant difference. Children who grow up in homes with lots of books and being read to regularly are at an advantage compared to kids in bookless homes.The Issue
Unfortunately, too many children are growing up without books. Only 2 percent of children under the age of five in sub-Saharan Africa are growing up with three or more children's books in their homes. Parents and caregivers with low literacy levels may not be aware of how they can support their children's learning with reading activities.
These issues have lifelong consequences: seventy percent of children in low- and middle-income countries are unable to read and understand an age-appropriate passage by their tenth birthday (a situation we call learning poverty). Learning poverty wastes young peoples' potential, impacts future workforces and ultimately, erodes countries' economic competitiveness.
The World Bank's Approach
The World Bank is taking a practical and collaborative approach to start the story for more children and ensure they grow up as readers and learners. The World Bank's Literacy Policy Package and Early Grade Reading Rainbow are among the many evidence-based resources that have been developed to support literacy for all.
Between FY19-FY23, World Bank Group-supported educational programs benefited close to 500 million students globally, including 53 million in countries affected by fragility and conflict. |
Through the Read@Home initiative, the World Bank is working with governments and other partners in 18 countries so far to expand access to quality reading and learning materials, reduce the cost of procuring and distributing books, and support parents and caregivers from the most vulnerable households to engage with their children's learning.
In 2020, the World Bank, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, FCDO, UNICEF, and USAID launched the Accelerator Program which coordinates efforts across the partners to ensure that the countries in the Program are showing improvements in foundational skills at scale over the next three to five years. The Accelerator Program acknowledges a global cohort of countries or sub-national entities that 1) demonstrate strong political and financial commitment to improved learning, 2) are willing to measure and monitor learning outcomes, and 3) have an investment plan to reduce learning poverty.
The World Bank is also working closely with UNICEF, UNESCO, FCDO, USAID, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and GPE as the Coalition for Foundational Learning to advocate and provide technical support to ensure foundational learning. The World Bank works with these partners to promote and endorse the Commitment to Action on Foundational Learning, a global network of countries committed to halving the global share of children unable to read and understand a simple text by age 10 by 2030.