“Last time there were only one or two readers out of the twenty students we assessed. This time every child except one was a reader. I am so happy today. This is my area. I come from here.” — Govinda
You may remember learning to read in class or with one of your parents at home. The first time you recognized your name or could spell out a simple word like D-O-G was a great feat, a milestone that each of the kids you grew up with would achieve in stride.
But if you grew up in the Kailali district in Nepal, the ability to read was an accomplishment that belonged to the lucky few. Perhaps you could even call it a privilege, one that was afforded to Govinda.
Growing up in Kailali, Govinda understood that his ability to read unlocked a much brighter future. Passionate about literacy and how it benefits communities, he now works as an enumerator, as part of the government census. We met with Govinda while he was assessing the reading ability of local grade three children, to see if our programs were improving their reading ability.
Caption: Govinda uses his education to help improve and assess the literacy rates of children in Nepal.
World Vision Canada has five core areas of focus that direct the work we do to help the most vulnerable children. Your sponsorship helps fund these core programs to impact a community far beyond the life of one child. As part of the education focus, Unlock Literacy aims to increase reading skills for children in the early grades of primary school through improved teaching methods for classroom reading, and engaging students, families and communities in reading activities outside of school.
Unlock Literacy includes training teachers to incorporate the five core reading skills into their curricula. These skills include letter knowledge, single word reading of most used words, decodable reading, fluency, accuracy and comprehension. This training strengthens educational instruction, ensuring children are learning to read, and helps them remain motivated to learn while in the classroom.
Because of donors like you, programs, such as those found in Govinda’s childhood community, are flourishing. In the last year, World Vision’s assessments of Area Development Programs (ADPs) in Nepal showed that children are reading at home more frequently and that the program is having a positive impact on children’s reading skills, including a higher number of students reading with comprehension.
The program has also had an impact on gender equity within the community. In general, Tharu girls, one of the indigenous people of Nepal, face a significant disadvantage in school. But now, through programs like Unlock Literacy, the most recent assessment shows that there is a particularly strong impact for these girls, bridging the language divide between Nepalese and Tharu, as well strengthening literacy at home. Girls are no longer being left behind.
Caption: Female students in Nepal perform a dance in between their classes.
The work being done in Kailali is changing the future for generations of children. The work is having a measurable impact. Now, when Govinda returns to his hometown, there aren’t just a few lucky ones; he’s surrounded by kids with a bright future ahead.