Making the Problem of Learning Poverty Visible

• In Event: Roundtable Session 2
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Adolescent Adaptation Agency and Leadership in Changing Educational Contexts

Proposal

For years, rising school enrollment figures painted an optimistic picture of progress. Yet behind the numbers, millions of children were leaving school without learning to read or do basic math. In many countries, this “learning poverty” crisis remained hidden — until simple, powerful data made it visible.

In India, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) became a turning point. Its findings — showing that half of Grade 5 students could not read a Grade 2 text — brought the issue to the forefront of national debate. But recognizing the problem was only the first step. Governments needed effective, scalable solutions. Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL), developed by Pratham, offered a simple, cost-effective approach that reorganizes classrooms so children learn at the level they are, not where the curriculum assumes they should be.

This paper examines how making learning gaps visible — and pairing evidence with solutions — has shaped education policy and practice across contexts. Drawing on experiences from India, where ASER and TaRL catalyzed large-scale change, as well as Zambia and Côte d’Ivoire, where governments have embedded TaRL into national systems, it also reflects on emerging adaptations in Brazil and Colombia.

Across these cases, we explore how visibility builds urgency, how contextualization enables adoption, and how government ownership sustains change. By connecting data, pedagogy, and policy, these experiences offer practical lessons for countries seeking to address learning poverty and strengthen foundational learning at scale.

Authors

• Meera Tendolkar, Pratham International

• Devyani Pershad, Pratham International