COVID-19 Response

Education Resilience Fund

COVID-19 placed 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

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent school closures, a worsening learning crisis that affected 1.6 billion children around the world is disrupting the education 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 was 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 called the COVID-19 pandemic “the worst crisis to education and learning in a century.”

As an organization dedicated to education, our work has never been more critical, as the pandemic continues to present educational barriers for an entire generation of children. A joint report by UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank provided an updated glimpse into the state of education worldwide and charted a path to educational recovery. The report highlighted an array of essential components to the recovery process, including evidence-based strategies, innovative interventions and socioemotional support — all of which are pillars of Room to Read’s approach.

Resources such as our at-home literacy kit, parent handbook, read-aloud videos, radio and TV programming, and interactive voice response storytelling are helping us to enable children to continue their literacy journeys at home. Our social mobilizers are conducting active outreach to adolescent girls to help them use their life skills to navigate this escalating crisis. Qualities like communication, perseverance and resilience are vital, and our teams are deeply engaged in reinforcing these traits that can provide girls and their families with much-needed equilibrium and stability during this turbulent period.

For millions of children, this continues to be a time of increased chaos, isolation and fear. We are working to provide them with a sense of continuity, stability, socio-emotional support and positive engagement through learning.

At Room to Read, our mission unites us, and so does our humanity. This work would not be possible without the compassion and generosity of our global community. If you would like to support our work to ensure education resilience during this continued crisis, please click here to make a donation.

“Education is the only thing that cannot be taken away. It is the key to fulfilling my dreams.”

Parbati Girls’ Education Program Participants in Nepal

By the Numbers: The Impact of COVID-19 on Education

1.6 billion - children have experienced school closures and have had their learning disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic

72 million - estimated primary school children will experience learning poverty, meaning that they will unable to read and understand a simple text by the age of 10, as learning losses continue to grow

24 million - children are at risk of dropping out of school forever

10 million - more girls will be at risk of becoming child brides as a result of the pandemic over the next decade

Education is a Fundamental Human Right

We must protect our students’ right to learn. Only through education can people build the skills and resources they need to best respond to crises like the one our global community is still recovering from.

For some students, closures will only be a temporary shift in their schooling before they’re back on track, but for many in the communities that we serve, this could mean the end of their education.

“The data suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic will have huge impacts on student learning across the world, but students in low-income countries and those in sub-Saharan Africa will be the most negatively affected. In these countries, governments have been less able to provide remote learning opportunities and guidance to teachers to address student learning needs during the crisis.”

- Brookings report, “School closures, government responses, and learning inequality around the world during COVID-19, Emiliana Vegas, April 14, 2020

Girls are Especially At Risk

“Progress lost takes years to regain. Teenage girls out of school may never return. Gender equality and women’s rights are essential to getting through this pandemic together.”

António Guterres United Nations Secretary-General

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.

Help Education Endure
Your support will help ensure that education – an enduring gift with the potential to solve many of the world’s greatest challenges – continues within vulnerable communities. Please make a donation to give children around the world the stabilizing power of education during this time of upheaval.
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Our Response to COVID-19

Room to Read is not giving up on our students and we are working towards our mission with even more determination. We understand that there will be both immediate and long-term negative impacts as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This isn’t the first time we’ve assisted countries facing extreme threats to education. We supported education infrastructure after the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka, the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, and now during the refugee crisis in Bangladesh.

Our team is led by crisis response experts and our staff members live and work in the countries where Room to Read operates. They are local nationals with a deep understanding of complex community needs and cultures, plus strong government relationships that allow us to partner for maximum impact and provide learning using the most powerful tools and media available locally.

Our programs serve as an essential lifeline to children in communities experiencing deep educational and economic inequities. To ensure that these children can continue learning, we’re prioritizing interventions that don’t depend on Internet connectivity – which is largely unavailable in the areas we serve – but human connectivity. Our staff is providing distance learning via channels that are most accessible to historically under-resourced communities, including telephone, radio and TV broadcasts, and the distribution of hard copies of educational materials.

Learn More about Room to Read’s Award-winning Literacy and Gender Equality Interventions During the COVID-19 Pandemic >>

The Greatest Needs

We adapted 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

In the News

Room to Read's COVID-19 Book Collection

Room to Read's COVID-19 Book Collection


Content and curriculum

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On Our Path to Global COVID-19 Recovery, We Must Focus on Literacy

On our path to global COVID-19 recovery, we must focus on literacy


In the news

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Room to Read students featured in Financial Times photo essay: Pupils’ parallel pandemics in India and Tanzania

Room to Read students featured in Financial Times photo essay: Pupils’ parallel pandemics in India and Tanzania


Andrew Jack

In the news

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CNBC's Squawk Box interviews Room to Read's Heather Simpson on the magnitude of the education crisis

CNBC's Squawk Box interviews Room to Read's Heather Simpson on the magnitude of the education crisis


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As COVID-19 Education Crisis Persists, Room to Read Delivers More Than 34 Million Direct Messages to Teachers and Students in Low-Income Communities

As COVID-19 education crisis persists, Room to Read delivers more than 34 million direct messages to teachers and students in low-income communities


Press releases

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Room to Read Joins The Call to Unite with Julia Roberts and Prajakta Koli

Room to Read joins the call to unite with Julia Roberts and Prajakta Koli


Community

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Education in crisis: why girls will pay the highest price in the COVID-19 pandemic

Education in crisis: why girls will pay the highest price in the COVID-19 pandemic


In the news

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BBC Radio: Dr. Geetha Murali on the COVID-19 Education Crisis

BBC Radio: Dr. Geetha Murali on the COVID-19 education crisis


In the news

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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.

 

Invest in children's education today.