Foundational learning in 2024: Progress and beyond
Swift, well-coordinated action backed up by political will is crucial to ensure targets to improve foundational learning across the world are met. Photo by UNICEF/UN0767554/Gonzalez Yepes.
Progress on foundational learning in 2024 has increased but sustaining this momentum is key.
Amongst important global moments, we launched a 5-point plan to support parliamentarians to take action on foundational learning and campaigned on the urgency and importance of the issue globally.
Going into 2025, building new alliances for learning, growing and sustaining political will and implementing evidence-based strategies to improve learning outcomes will be vital to ensure every child is in school and learning.
Education has taken centre stage this year, and we’ve seen awareness of the learning crisis increase along with high-level commitment to ensure every child learns.
Deepening that awareness and sustaining political commitment will be key.
This year has seen a series of significant developments in foundational learning with key moments cementing global commitment to ensuring every child is in school and learning.
With just 5 years to go until 2030 - when the Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 4 fall due - it is more important than ever that we take stock of progress and do everything possible to prioritise action that will help improve learning outcomes.
African Union Year of Education
The African Union theme for 2024 was education, recognising the need to address challenges in the education system to improve the right to education.
In February at the African Union Assembly, a declaration was adopted that reaffirmed the continent’s commitment to driving SDG 4.
It included a commitment to ending learning poverty and to supporting governments and stakeholders to invest in foundational learning.
The AU noted that without swift, well-coordinated action, targets to improve learning in Africa will not be met.
The consequences for Africa’s children and society were projected as being devastating with long-term negative effects on life outcomes, including health, learning and socioeconomic development.
Appointment of Africa’s first high-level champion for foundational learning
2024 saw the appointment of the world’s first high-level champion for foundational learning.
President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia has agreed to raise the political salience of foundational learning across Africa and globally, and to help steer the continent towards the common goal of improving foundational learning.
President Hichilema will lend his voice and influence to make sure foundational learning is prioritised and help amplify support for action by other political leaders and stakeholders to improve learning outcomes in their own countries.
The work of ADEA and the Minister of Education in Zambia was critical to this. Their success in gaining the world’s first high-level champion for foundational learning is an important achievement towards increasing political understanding of and commitment to foundational learning.
Africa’s foundational learning exchange
Building on President Hichilema’s commitment to foundational learning, more than 22 Ministers of Education and 500 education experts attended the second Africa Foundational Learning Exchange (FLEX 2024) in Kigali, Rwanda.
FLEX 2024 is the largest country-to-country exchange on foundational learning across the continent.
It highlighted the determination across the region to improve learning outcomes and reverse the statistics showing that 90 percent of primary school-age children are not reading with comprehension in sub-Saharan Africa.
The learning crisis is worsened by a shortage of 44 million teachers worldwide. Photo by UNICEF/UNI99727/Pirozzi.
Supporting parliamentary action to ensure every child learns
As part of International Literacy Day, we launched a 5-point plan to support parliamentarians to take action to ensure that every child learns.
Our campaign highlights the urgency and importance of the learning crisis as a global issue.
We shared the 5-point plan at the 149th IPU Assembly in Geneva to support parliamentary action on education and used the opportunity to build alliances for learning.
Through providing support for coordinated action and political leadership, we helped members of parliament to ensure that every child has the opportunity to learn and thrive.
Global goals, severely off track
While 2024 has seen significant momentum for foundational learning and bold commitments to action, the challenges are still daunting.
A record number of children are still out of school - 251 million - and 4 in 10 children are leaving school early.
Conflict and humanitarian crises have driven this surge with the number of children affected increasing from 75 million in 2016 to 224 million today.
Even when children are in school, learning outcomes are low. In low- and middle-income countries, 70 percent of primary-age children cannot read and understand a simple text.
The crisis is further worsened by a shortage of 44 million teachers and chronic underfunding, leaving classrooms badly resourced.
Low-income countries face a staggering 97 billion USD annual funding gap to achieve SDG 4 targets.
Without urgent reforms, 300 million children risk being left without basic literacy and numeracy by 2030, deepening global inequality and endangering future generations.
Unite for action on foundational learning
With only 5 years to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, urgent action is needed to tackle the multiple challenges that SDG 4 faces.
This must include building new alliances for learning, growing and sustaining political will and implementing evidence-based strategies to improve learning outcomes.
If children and young people are not equipped with foundational skills, there are huge financial, social and moral costs for all of us.
“Evidence shows that strong political will that clearly prioritises foundational learning is the leading driver of successful program outcomes,” shared Dr. Benjamin Piper, Global Education Director for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The challenge now is turning commitments and political will into action to ensure every child is in school and learning.
At IPNEd, our focus through 2025 is to continue to support parliamentarians and strengthen national and regional alliances advocating for better learning outcomes.
Together, we can ensure all children are equipped with foundational skills to thrive in school and later in life.
