COVID-19 Response

Education Resilience Fund

Recent surges in COVID-19 are placing so many things beyond our control. Education doesn’t need to be one of them. In fact, education is a vital source of stability, comfort and hope for the millions who are grappling with challenges and loss. That is why we established our Education Resilience Fund, to support the children and families who are relying on education to help them get through this challenging time. Through the fund, we will be able to deploy resources where and when they are needed most, to ensure learning continues for children around the globe.

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A Global Education Emergency

In the aftermath of the exacerbated COVID-19 pandemic in countries including India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and as a new wave of the virus threatens the African continent, a worsening learning crisis that affected 1.6 billion children around the world is permanently disrupting the educations of children from historically under-resourced communities and heightening risks to young girls.

Room to Read’s work is needed now more than ever, as UNICEF reports one-third of the world’s children remain cut off from education due to inaccessibility to remote learning methods and 10 million additional girls are at risk of child marriage over the next decade. The World Bank is calling the COVID-19 pandemic “the worst crisis to education and learning in a century.”

Girls are Especially At Risk

A UN policy brief on the impact of COVID-19 on women says, “Evidence from past epidemics shows that adolescent girls are at particular risk of drop out and not returning to school even after the crisis is over.” 

Our Girls’ Education Program participants typically live in historically low-income, remote areas, making them especially likely to be forced to give up their educations permanently as a result of this crisis.  Girls in precarious financial situations are at higher risk of early marriage, sex trafficking or other forms of exploitation when out of school.

The Greatest Needs

We are adapting our programs and operations quickly to ensure that children do not lose precious time in their educational journey.

• Designing new methods to facilitate distance learning, including radio and TV education broadcasting in areas without internet
• Distributing print materials in local communities
• Providing mentoring to girls by phone to support them emotionally through the crisis, provide encouragement for continuing their studies at home, keep them informed on how to stay safe and healthy, and help them navigate challenges related to returning to school
• Revising our Risk and Response Tool, a powerful early warning system that helps our staff identify and immediately act on risk factors for girls who may be forced to cut their education short
• Expanding our book supply chains, government partnerships and other local relationships to find ways to get books to children who cannot visit libraries
• Launching our digital learning platform, Literacy Cloud, a rich online library of storybooks sorted by reading level and language, plus read-aloud videos and professional development resources for teachers, children’s book creators, members of the international publishing community, and governments – all for free
• Preparing to support schools, educators and students to adjust timelines and close any learning gaps when schools reopen
• Supporting our technological infrastructure that allows us to work remotely and continue to support our programs across the globe
• Ensuring our financial integrity and transparency by continuing to deliver financial audits in times of office closures

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Support Our Work

If there’s one lesson from the pandemic, it’s the need to be nimble and adaptable. As the future of the world’s children stands at a critical tipping point, Room to Read has prepared a way forward to make sure education endures, even in the face of overwhelming crisis.

With 250 million children not learning around the world and 130 million girls out of school prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is still much work to be done and we will not stop until every child has access to a quality education. This is only possible with your support.