The second phase of USAID’s Early Grade Reading Program is solidifying a sustainable foundation for improving children’s reading skills in Nepal

Project Summary

Objective

To improve early grade literacy in grades 1–3 for students in Nepali public schools

Approach

The Early Grade Reading Program II (EGRP II) provides technical support to the Government of Nepal’s National Early Grade Reading Program (NEGRP), which aims to help children read with fluency and comprehension. NEGRP is led by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology with support from USAID under the Ministry’s School Sector Development Plan.

Impact

EGRP II is supporting evidence-based reading instruction in grades 1-3 in nearly 14,000 schools across 38 districts of Nepal; assisting the government of Nepal to revise their approach to teacher professional support based on grassroots experience; and building the capacity of 396 local governments in education policy development and resource allocation. The program has distributed supplementary reading materials to almost 9,000 schools across 22 new target districts and is developing 119 new digital lessons for early grade learning, and promoting community and home-based learning for approximately 30,000 students in 219 schools in the areas of Nepal most heavily impacted by COVID-19.

A two-year (2020-2022) partnership between the Government of Nepal and the U.S. Agency for International Development is helping children across Nepal learn to read with fluency and comprehension, skills that help set them up for success later in life. The Early Grade Reading Program (EGRP), led by RTI from 2015–2020, achieved significant impact in terms of reading gains:

  • The average number of correct words per minute (cwpm) read by second graders increased from 6.9 (2016) to 12.15 (2020), a near doubling in four years. This represents progress toward Nepal’s national early grade oral reading fluency benchmark of 45 cwpm.
  • The percentage of learners who demonstrated reading fluency and comprehension of grade level text at the end of grade 2 increased from 0.9% in 2016 to 3.21% in 2020.

EGRP created a climate conducive to scaling up early grade reading activities—also a key focus area for EGRP II. Activities include:

  • Supporting development and rollout of the integrated curriculum (IC) and continuing to scale up the government’s National Early Grade Reading Program (NEGRP).
  • Building municipal- and provincial-level capacity for delivering early grade reading services.
  • Improving local governments’ ability to provide effective teacher professional support, coaching, mentorship, and supervision.
  • Supporting continuity of learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Improving Teacher Training, Instruction, and Support

Providing support and training for teachers is a critical step in ensuring students receive a quality education. EGRP II has been assisting the government to integrate early grade reading best practices in their Integrated Curriculum and roll out trainings at central and cluster levels. Training topics include:

  • key reading components and instructional approaches
  • best practices for teaching Nepali to second language (L2) learners
  • the “I do, we do, you do” gradual-release instructional model (where teachers first illustrate a skill, practice the skill with their students, and then have the students perform it), and
  • best practices for using instructional materials, such as teacher guides and student workbooks and supplementary reading materials at various reading levels and in several languages.

EGRP II also helped the government develop a quality assurance tool to ensure consistency of trainings as they are cascaded from the master trainer level to lower levels.

In addition to training, ongoing support to teachers, including mentoring and coaching, is essential to ensure that what is learned is being applied in the classroom. Working with Nepal’s Center for Education and Human Resource Development (CEHRD), EGPR II is helping to revise and roll out a teacher professional support system to operationalize the new curriculum and materials.

Building Capacity to Scale Up Early Grade Reading  

As with EGRP, all of EGRP II’s activities are designed to foster sustainability through government ownership of program implementation and coordination across all levels (local, provincial, and district).

Through capacity building workshops, EGRP II is continuing to engage and build stakeholder knowledge and skills in early grade reading concepts; NEGRP goals, strategies, and activities; and the roles and responsibilities of each level in reaching early grade reading goals.

Importantly, the program is also helping integrate NEGRP interventions into local level policies and programs across 396 target municipalities by supporting local officials with planning and budgeting. Training on preparing Municipal Education Plans in consultation with local stakeholders has succeeded in getting local governments to allocate their own resources to early grade reading activities, including support and coaching for teachers.

Students in the Nepal Early Grade Reading Program work with a teacher to practice reading skills on a tablet.

Photo by Avash Karmacharya

Ensuring Learning Continuity in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

As the pandemic forced school closures, flexible learning approaches—such as home-based schooling supported by parents and teachers—and use of information technology became critical to ensure continuity of learning.

At the local level, EGRP II disseminated government COVID-19 response guidelines for the education sector, including flexible learning approaches, a school reopening framework, and guidelines for facilitating home-based schooling created with inputs from EGRP II team members. Flexible learning approaches promoted by the government, and supported by EGRP II, include specific, curriculum-linked activities that parents can carry out with children at home. The program also supported additional printing of supplementary reading materials for nearly 9,000 schools and prepared suggestions for how schools could use these materials to promote learning during prolonged school closures.

In terms of use of information technology, EGRP II partner organization Open Learning Exchange Nepal (OLE Nepal) is developing more than 100 new digital interactive lessons for grades 1–3, for Nepali, mathematics, science, English, social studies, Nepali Sign Language, and for children with dyslexia, to be uploaded in CEHRD’s online learning portal. OLE Nepal—a social benefit organization established in 2007 with the vision of improving the quality of education and reducing the disparity in access to quality learning resources—has been partnering with the Government of Nepal to use technology to enhance the teaching-learning process in classrooms through design, development, and distribution of curriculum-based interactive digital learning materials; teacher training on integrating digital content in daily lessons; setting up technology infrastructure in schools; and developing local capacity and awareness on effective use of technology.

Additionally, EGRP II is providing direct support to local education units to implement community- and home-based learning, targeting 16 rural, disadvantaged municipalities that are heavily impacted by COVID-19. These interventions include small grants to 119 schools, teacher training on flexible learning approaches, distribution of 1,330 tablets pre-loaded with offline learning content, and provision of decodable books and stationery packs.

By the end of two years, EGRP II will have supported the Government of Nepal to roll out early grade reading best practices and teacher professional support nationwide through the integrated curriculum; strengthened policy formulation and data analysis around children’s learning outcomes in early primary school; and built capacity of local governments for early grade reading service delivery. The program’s catch-up learning activities at home and in the community will have also contributed to positive change for children whose learning was acutely affected by COVID-19 school closures. Through strengthened policy, practice, and system capacity, EGRP II will make lasting contributions to improving early grade reading for an estimated 450,000 learners across Nepal.

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Clients

  • U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

Partners

Our Experts

Jodie Fonseca
Jodie Fonseca Senior Education Advisor
WendiRalaingita
Wendi Ralaingita Senior Education Advisor

Practice Areas

International Education

Services

Curriculum and Teacher Professional Development

Countries

Nepal