There is an urgent need for a society-wide commitment to invest more and better in people. Even if countries reduce their learning poverty at the fastest rates we have seen so far in this century, the goal of ending it will not be attained by 2030. Progress in reducing learning poverty is far too slow to meet the SDG aspirations: at the current rate of improvement, in 2030 about 43% of children will still be learning-poor.

Such high levels of illiteracy are an early warning sign that all global educational goals and other related sustainable development goals are in jeopardy. In poor countries, the level is as high as 80 percent. Using a measure developed jointly by the World Bank and UNESCO’s Institute of Statistics, we have determined that 53 percent of children in low- and middle-income countries cannot read and understand a simple story by the end of primary school. This indicator brings together schooling and learning indicators: it begins with the share of children who haven’t achieved minimum reading proficiency (as measured in schools) and is adjusted by the proportion of children who are out of school (and are assumed not able to read proficiently). Learning poverty means being unable to read and understand a simple text by age 10. To spotlight this crisis, we are introducing the concept of Learning Poverty, drawing on new data developed in coordination with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. As a major contributor to human capital deficits, the learning crisis undermines sustainable growth and poverty reduction. They don’t acquire the human capital they need to power their careers and economies once they leave school, or the skills that will help them become engaged citizens and nurture healthy, prosperous families. Without foundational learning, students often fail to thrive later in school or when they join the workforce. This is the leading edge of a learning crisis that threatens c ountries’ efforts to build human capital and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Moreover, 260 million children are not even in school. Even though most children are in school, a large proportion are not acquiring fundamental skills. In recent years, it has become clear that many children around the world are not learning to read proficiently. And although it is possible to learn later in life with enough effort, children who don’t read by age 10-or at the latest, by the end of primary school-usually fail to master reading later in their schooling career. Beyond this, when children cannot read, it’s usually a clear indication that school systems aren’t well organized to help children learn in other areas such as math, science, and the humanities. Reading is a gateway for learning as the child progresses through school-and conversely, an inability to read slams that gate shut. All children should be able to read by age 10.

Poor production synonym