It’s easy as 'Literacy 1-2-3' - Students given the chance to learn to read anytime, anywhere

A breakthrough for more than 300,000 students at the pre-primary and primary levels now gives them the ability to access interactive digital versions of approved Ministry of Education, Youth & Information reading resources.

The materials, hosted on the Bookfusion mobile app and website, are now enabled with music, narration and highlighted text delivered by Jamaican voices.

Already available are the 19 books in the Literacy 1-2-3 series. The development of an additional 30 books in the Doctor Bird Reading Series and Early Childhood Charts are a few weeks away from readiness.

Digicel Foundation and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have partnered with the education ministry and Bookfusion to revolutionise teaching and learning throughout the education sector.

Readers will have a more user-friendly way to utilise e-books which can be accessed on all mobile devices and computers.

"The added investment of interactivity creates mechanisms to improve the efficacy of the teaching and learning experience in and out of the classroom for thousands of students and their teachers islandwide," said Dane Richardson, Digicel Foundation CEO.

"We are particularly excited about this added value because it directly empowers students as independent learners while simultaneously creating opportunities for well-needed parental support," added Richardson.

project RESULTS

Data from the project show that some students leaving early childhood institutions and entering primary schools are not at the requisite level of proficiency in basic literacy.

Almost 10,000 of 43,000 students enrolled in the 104 participating schools had to be targeted with remedial intervention in reading. Insufficient learning resources and limited involvement of parents and guardians were among the issues identified as the consistent challenges for these children.

However, with appropriate interventions, the targeted students and schools showed significant advancements in skills.