The United States Ambassador to Mozambique, Douglas Griffiths and the Mozambican Minister of Education, Augusto Jone, launched today the project Aprender a Ler (Learning to read), which will be implemented in 120 schools in Zambezia and Nampula provinces, benefiting more than 46,000 children.

The first project of its kind in Mozambique, USAID|Aprender a Ler aims at improving the reading level of second and third grade students, based on the principle that reading is the foundation for the learning of all other school subjects and ultimately the path to a better life. Studies have shown that the ability to read can increase the chances that the child will finish school and therefore ensure higher incomes.

Between 2001 and 2011, the number of children in Mozambique’s primary schools (grades 1-7) doubled from 2.7 million to 5.4 million with an average growth rate of 8% per year.  This rapid expansion has placed intense pressure on the overall quality of instruction due to skills and material constraints, resulting in the in a large number of overcrowded multi-shift schools, growing student/teacher ratios, and plummeting reading and math test scores.

USAID|Aprender a Ler will achieve its objective by:

coaching 2nd and 3rd grade teachers in foundational reading instruction approaches; training and coaching school directors in school management techniques to increase the amount of time children spend in class learning; and distributing quality reading instruction materials, which make it fun for children to learn and easy for teachers to teach.

The project includes an independent and external impact evaluation that will test the success of the project interventions, enabling the Ministry of Education and USAID to use its findings toward selecting the most powerful and cost-effective interventions to scale up in future years.

USAID’s partnership with the Mozambique’s Ministry of Education demonstrates a strong commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to the provision of quality basic education services to all children in Mozambique.