How many illiterate children are there?

How many children cannot read?

Although it’s impossible to know exactly how many children around the world cannot read or write, UNESCO reports that 250 million children lack basic literacy skills.

Illiteracy can affect children all over the world, however illiteracy disproportionately affects children in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, where rates tend to be higher than in other regions. According to the United Nations, nearly two thirds of the children falling behind reading targets live in Central and Southern Asia and Eastern and South-Eastern Asia.

World Vision launches a mobile library van in the Philippines

Mobile library launches in the Philippines to support reading education

World Vision launched a mobile library in Mandaue City in partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd). Under the organisation’s Urban Development Project, the hub aims to cater for children on the streets, and those who are living in the slums – giving them access to learning resources, opportunities for play and life skills development.

“World Vision is grateful and excited to embark on its first Mobile Learn and Play Hub with DepEd Mandaue City Division. We are expectant that this intervention will bring more value in helping and reaching kids in the communities even during this pandemic,” shares Faith Richelle Sy, Programme Manager of the World Vision Urban Development Project.

The project hopes to reach at least 800 children between 6 to 14 years old by 2023.

“We are all aware of the effect of the pandemic on the education of our children. The teaching of reading is greatly affected because it is difficult to teach reading through modules,” shares Dr Nimfa Bongo, the Superintendent of DepEd Mandaue City Division. “The mobile hub with a reading teacher will visit certain areas in the community. The teacher will conduct reading remedial classes with the help of the reading materials available in the hub.”

The Lost Potential Tracker is a powerful data visualisation showing, in real time, the number of children who have not been able to gain basic literacy skills by the age of ten.

Why is literacy important?

Literacy is important for children as, with low reading and writing skills, a child is likely to find life harder for multiple reasons. The ability to read and write effects every facet of life. Being unable to read and write means you are limited in your employment options (often having to take lower-paid jobs), it means you are more likely to face adverse health conditions as it’s not easy to seek health information, it means you’re likely to have lower self-esteem, you’re more likely to rely on welfare, you might face higher levels of crime; the list goes on and on.

Literacy is something that opens doors, but being illiterate certainly closes them and, as a Christian charity based in the UK, working to help educate children is one of our key goals. We work with communities and governments to improve access and quality of the education children receive, helping them overcome barriers like financial status, location, or other circumstances outside of their control. By reducing the barriers to education, we can help children achieve more, learn more, grow their self-esteem and set themselves up for the life they deserve.

Our educational initiatives include vocational classes, helping children stay in school, offering additional classes and ensuring children who may suffer from other disadvantages in life are given the same level of education as everyone else.

Cambodian school girl sat at a desk in her classroom, smiling at the camera.

Child sponsors are keeping children in school

When World Vision enters a community, development workers gather community members to identify their biggest challenges and together devise a long-term plan, funded by Child Sponsorship, to tackle those issues.

Sreypov, 17-years-old, in Cambodia, dreams of becoming a policewoman.

Since being a sponsored child, the children in the community are learning to read and write.

"I got some stationery like books, pens, a bag, and soap," she says.

Things are starting to look up in the community. “Now, it has changed, and there is no abuse like before. Children have access to school and can gain more knowledge.”

Sreypov is hopeful for the future. “I hope the sponsor will continue supporting my community and see changes and children's wellbeing.”

For every child sponsored, four more benefit too

By supporting World Vision, you can help us to support teachers, improve the educational facilities on offer and empower children to become higher-earning, healthier adults who will, one day, break the cycle of poverty and be able to educate their own children.

The best way to change a child’s life is to transform their whole community, and Child Sponsorship means helping communities to help themselves. Your sponsorship will help children and the entire community with the essentials they need to build a better future, such as clean water, education, healthcare facilities, nutritious food, protection, and job opportunities for parents to improve their income.

Sponsor a child