Without a doubt, learning in Colombia and across Latin America is going through one of its greatest crises. According to a World Bank study, 53% of ten-year-old children in low- and middle-income countries experience learning poverty, meaning they are unable to read and understand a simple text appropriate for their age.
This alarming reality not only affects the current state of children’s education, but also limits their future in critical areas such as staying in the education system, accessing higher education, and, from there on, their productive lives, income opportunities, and social mobility—all because they did not learn to read and write during those first years of schooling.
In response to this situation, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Luker Foundation developed the “Let’s All Learn to Read” model, a program for the explicit teaching of reading and writing that focuses on the development and consolidation of foundational skills during the initial stage of learning.
Today, at Fraternidad Medellín, we are co-financing this program in Necoclí, in several municipalities of Eastern Antioquia, in Southwestern Antioquia through the Rural Education Alliance (ERA), and in various schools across Medellín. All of this is made possible alongside co-financing and operating partners such as the Luker Foundation, Grupo Social Foundation, Secretos para Contar, CTA, and the Ratón de Biblioteca Foundation. Currently, we are reaching 8,840 students across 246 educational sites.
UNICEF also joined this effort in Antioquia through the “I Want to Understand” campaign, encouraging both the public and private sectors to address this issue in Colombia and across Latin America. In addition, the Government of Antioquia launched the Initial Literacy Program, through which the regional administration will make a major investment to reach every municipality with a program aimed at improving early reading and writing skills for approximately 180,000 children in their first years of schooling.
The public and private sectors working together to build a more equitable region with opportunities for everyone.
