Out-of-School Learning for Literacy Recovery in Rural Bangladesh

Project Background

Despite gains in South Asian school enrolment, half of children remain in “learning poverty,” unable to read simple text by age ten. In Bangladesh, COVID-19's long closures disrupted 37 million children, leaving many below grade level—especially in rural areas with limited remote learning. In-school approaches struggle to catch them up, neglecting out-of-school support essential for review and practice.
Partnering with 10 Minute School (10MS), this project tests two low-cost, low-tech out-of-school models for foundational literacy/numeracy (FLN) in Grades 2–4, using digital content, tasks, and caregiver nudges to scale learning recovery in low-income settings.

Project Scope & Reach

Three Khulna Division districts (Khulna, Satkhira, Jessore); 120 villages with one government primary school each, from GDRI's 800-school frame; Grades 2–4 children with home smartphones and caregivers, within school/village context.

Key research partners

Global Development Research Institute (GDRI), Bangladesh; 10 Minute School (10MS); lead academic team from international universities in education economics and impact evaluation.

Funding & Support

Competitive international grants for foundational learning via rigorous evidence; covers 10MS FLN content adaptation, app development, baseline/endline data, and clustered RCT in 120 villages.

Roles of GDRI

Capacity Development and Intervention Design: Advises on adapting TaRL-inspired FLN video curriculum/tasks to local languages, norms, constraints; ensures 10MS content, messaging, channels fit rural/disaster-prone areas.
Field Implementation and Community Engagement: Prepares 800-school sampling frame; coordinates with education offices, school heads, officials, leaders for access, testing, consent; recruits/trains/supervises teams for data collection and monitoring.
Data Management, Cleaning, and Analysis: Oversees quality, secure storage, anonymization of student/caregiver/school/village data; collaborates on analysis of outcomes, behaviors, heterogeneity, cost-effectiveness; drafts reports/briefs, presents to government/NGOs/donors.