A Digital Reading Program in Ghana Gets Results

2021 marked the culmination of an impactful three-year initiative called Ghana District Scale – a collaboration between Worldreader and the Municipal Education Office (MEO) in the Kwaebibirem district that significantly improved both teaching and student reading. 

Across 90 public primary schools in the district, Worldreader provided e-readers and e-books (including both storybooks and textbooks aligned with the 2018 Ghana Curriculum) as well as training and systems support for MEO staff to measure impact and generate learnings for potential scalability.

A third-party evaluation of the initiative by Associates for Change reported these exciting findings:

• Most pupils who couldn’t read before the program now read with ease – most have also improved in spelling and increased vocabulary 
• The digital skills of teachers in the program have improved
• 90% of teachers successfully used e-readers in their lessons
• Teaching has become more learner-centered as teachers encourage group work and/or paired reading
• E-readers have provided better access to textbooks making teaching and learning easier and closing the textbook gap in rural schools

The findings were so positive that the MEO is seeking funding to sustain and up-scale the digital reading initiative. The MEO is also working with parent groups to encourage at-home reading through Worldreader’s BookSmart app to strengthen school-to-home learning and further support the development of students’ literacy skills.

To learn more about how you can keep children in Ghana reading, please contact Worldreader at development@worldreader.org.