Mr Harry Patrinos the Manager Education Sector, World Bank group, on Saturday said Global Education and Skills Forum (GESF) would globally invest more money into primary school education with a focus on reading skills.
“The government and education donors spend rising amounts of money into higher education, while investments into basic education remains stagnant, especially in the developing world.
“A study conducted by the World Bank found out that it costs just 10 dollars per pupil per year to equip teachers in Malawi with tools to ensure no child is left behind.
“Especially in relation to achieve basic reading skills,’’ Patrinos said.
Patrinos said the World Bank had therefore launched reading programmes in several developing countries.
The expert says an estimated 25 per cent of children in developing countries cannot not read and write.
He added that 50 per cent of all children in middle-income countries were `technically illiterate’, “meaning they are unable to understand or interpret small text.’’
“In Sub-Saharan Africa, we found out that 61 million people cannot read.
“The investments into reading skills shall not be regarded as losses, since the economic loss of creating generations of illiterate people goes into the trillions of dollars globally,” he noted. (Xinhua/NAN)