Opportunities to read and learn at home are critical to improving children’s learning outcomes, but too many young children are growing up without books and opportunities to read at home. Expanding opportunities to Read@Home is essential during this crisis, but is a smart investment at any time.

Today, World Bank EdTech team member Maria Barron speaks with World Bank Read@Home team members Penelope Bender and Jennie Albone about the importance of children having access to physical books and learning materials and how this complements remote learning and EdTech approaches which are being rolled out by governments. In particular, they speak about how Read@Home is deploying technology to test and scale ‘track and trace’ systems to enable efficient book procurement and how Read@Home is contributing to open-source digital libraries to ensure suitable books are available in languages children understand. Learn more about Read@Home at https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/education/brief/read-at-home.

Related Reading Recommendation:

Raising Kids Who Read: What Parents and Teachers Can Do: 9781118769720: Willingham, Daniel T.: Books

Recommended Reading from our Guests:

Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd-Me3EBGYY&t=221s)

The High House by Jessie Greengrass (goodreads.com)