CLOSING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE IN SOUTH AFRICA
Early in 2021, our literacy team partnered with a print newspaper in the province of KwaZulu-Natal to print weekly reading activities and decodable stories to help close the digital divide affecting many children from historically low-income and under- resourced communities during school closures. The stories, written with graphemes, the letters or letter combinations that students learn in early literacy development, provided young learners with developmentally appropriate reading experiences. These experiences, in turn, helped early readers build phonics skills, fluency and confidence.
EXPANDING ACCESS TO TRAINING IN BANGLADESH In collaboration with local government partners, our team in Bangladesh launched a virtual library management training program on the government’s “Aspire to Innovate” website, which offers innovative digital content to help transform the country’s public sector. Made public late in 2021, the training program can be accessed online free of charge, anytime, anywhere, enabling thousands of teachers, librarians and other educators from across Bangladesh to access content focused on library management and early grade literacy development.
ADDING MORE BOOKS TO OUR DIGITAL LIBRARY We continued to add to the contents of Literacy Cloud in 2021 to include more of our hard copy titles and make our books available in more local languages. Literacy Cloud has more than 2,128 digital titles in 32 languages.
14 | ROOM TO READ 2021 ANNUAL REPORT
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