Creative’s Yemen Early Grade Reading Approach—part of an integrated, community-based program designed to enhance education—introduced a new, phonics-based reading program to schools across the country. It was funded by U.S. Agency for International Development.
Together with Yemen’s Education Ministry, Creative trained educators in better ways to teach children Arabic reading and writing skills, alongside ongoing training and support in effectively using teaching materials.
Creative’s program trained 8,000 teachers and benefitted more than 250,000 students in first, second and third grades. And the program worked: 97 percent of first graders were able to read more than six times faster after using the Early Grade Reading approach for three months.
To expand its reach, Creative and the Ministry of Education launched a national reading campaign designed to promote a culture of reading—with radio and TV messages, a mini-documentary, print materials and SMS messages that reached an estimated 9 million people.
