A new initiative is set to improve access and learning outcomes in basic education for over 70 million children across Eastern and Southern Africa. The Advancing Innovative Methods to Promote Learning (AIM4Learning) Program, backed by $1.54 billion from the International Development Association (IDA) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), aims to address educational challenges in the region.
The program seeks to enhance education quality through innovations and technologies while supporting increased school enrollment. It aims to reduce dropout rates, increase completion rates, and optimize funding for basic education.
Despite significant progress in the past two decades due to increased government spending, the region faces a learning crisis exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, only 11 percent of children in targeted countries can read simple text by age 10, with 14 million school-age children out of school. AIM4Learning aims to reduce this number to 7 million by 2034.
“Sub-Saharan Africa has the world's fastest-growing child population, making foundational learning for all more critical than ever," said Victoria Kwakwa, Vice President for the World Bank’s Eastern and Southern Africa Region. "By investing in education, we invest not just in individual futures, but in the prosperity, stability, and dignity of the entire continent.”
The program will roll out over ten years, starting with Comoros and Ethiopia. In Ethiopia, it will be implemented through the Ethiopia Education Transformation Operation for Learning (ETOL), benefiting nearly 20 million students. In Comoros, it will support about 130,000 students in public pre-primary and primary schools.
Both projects receive co-financing from the Global Partnership for Education. Additional countries are expected to join AIM4Learning in later phases.
“Across the world, technology is increasingly seen as an accelerator for learning,” stated Laura Frigenti, CEO of the Global Partnership for Education. “Partnerships are key to offer countries context-relevant technology support that can help them transform their education systems.”
AIM4Learning is structured around four pillars: transforming learning spaces; developing an effective teacher workforce; strengthening education systems and financing; and encouraging cross-country collaboration. The program will focus on cost-effective innovations such as digital technology use, reorganizing school delivery methods, improving teacher management, enhancing curricula and assessment systems, and strengthening governance through decentralization.