Did you know… before COVID-19, 90% of children in low-income countries could not read and understand a simple sentence. And since the COVID-19 pandemic, this statistic has only gotten worse. At its peak, COVID-19 pushed 1.6 billion children (90% of enrolled learners) out of school. School closures will have a devastating impact on learning, particularly for the poorest countries and children.

Age 10 is the age at which children should be switching from learning to read to reading to learn. This critical milestone sets children up for a lifetime of learning. Since world leaders adopted the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, more than 393 million children have failed to gain basic literacy skills by their 10th birthday. And every second, that number gets higher.

We decided to go to the source, and ask 10 year olds around the world what they thought life would be like if they couldn’t read.