November 6-7 2019 a conference convened on the tenth anniversary of the READ (Russian Education Aid for Development) Program was held in Moscow. Experts from around the world convened to reflect on global progress and to reemphasize the continuing need for improved learning assessment systems to effectively combat Learning Poverty.
In October 2019 the World Bank released new data which was the result of a partnership with UNESCO’s Institute of Statistics, on “Learning Poverty” – defined as the share of children who cannot read and understand a simple story by the age of 10. The Bank found that 53 percent of children in developing countries are “learning poor,” and announced a new global target to reduce that number by at least half by 2030. To help countries make progress in reaching this target and getting more children reading, Jaime Saavedra, Global Director of the World Bank’s Education Practice, presented a literacy policy package, an education approach to strengthen entire education systems and a Learning Assessment Platform that will be focusing on a research agenda that responds to country needs around early literacy.