Zhang Huafeng, Holden Stein T
School of Economics and Business, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway.
Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research, Tøyen. Oslo, Norway.
PLoS One. 2025 Apr 8;20(4):e0320688. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0320688. eCollection 2025.
To promote SDG Goal 4 and "education for all", this study investigates children's basic reading skills in 11 low-income and lower-middle-income African countries, using standardized reading tests from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS). Research specifically examining children's reading skills and disparities across socioeconomic groups in African contexts remains scarce. This study addresses a critical knowledge gap by providing comparative evidence on reading skills disparities across diverse social backgrounds, including children with disabilities. Our study provides new evidence on the "Learning Crisis in the Global South", revealing alarmingly low levels of reading skills but with considerable variation across the 11 African countries studied. Substantial reading skills differences exist between children with disabilities or from disadvantaged backgrounds-those living in rural areas, and from poorer, less educated families-and their non-disabled and non-disadvantaged peers. Notably, these disparities are often more pronounced in countries with higher overall reading proficiency. Moreover, there are persistent gaps between children with and without disabilities across the countries and socioeconomic groups in this study. Encouragingly, strengthening education systems is a promising way of improving the reading skills of children with disabilities. These findings underscore the diverse challenges faced by children from different backgrounds in varying contexts.
为推动可持续发展目标4和“全民教育”，本研究利用多指标类集调查（MICS）的标准化阅读测试，对11个非洲低收入和中低收入国家儿童的基本阅读技能进行了调查。专门研究非洲背景下儿童阅读技能及社会经济群体间差异的研究仍然很少。本研究通过提供不同社会背景（包括残疾儿童）阅读技能差异的比较证据，填补了一个关键的知识空白。我们的研究为“全球南方的学习危机”提供了新证据，揭示了令人震惊的低阅读技能水平，但在所研究的11个非洲国家中存在相当大的差异。残疾儿童或来自弱势背景（即生活在农村地区、来自较贫困且受教育程度较低家庭的儿童）与其非残疾和非弱势同龄人之间存在显著的阅读技能差异。值得注意的是，这些差异在总体阅读水平较高的国家往往更为明显。此外，在本研究中，不同国家和社会经济群体中残疾儿童和非残疾儿童之间存在持续差距。令人鼓舞的是，加强教育系统是提高残疾儿童阅读技能的一个有希望的途径。这些发现强调了不同背景的儿童在不同环境中面临的各种挑战。
