Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) Africa
Millions of children in Sub-Saharan Africa lack basic reading and math skills, particularly girls. TaRL Africa supports governments and organisations to adapt and scale an approach across Africa to address the learning crisis.
Sub-Saharan Africa faces a profound education crisis, with millions of children lacking in basic reading and math skills — nearly 90% of 10-year-old children in the region cannot read and understand a simple text, and 83% also lack basic math proficiency.
Children who do not acquire reading and math skills in early grades struggle to catch up later. This particularly disadvantages girls, who are at greater risk of gender-based violence and early or forced marriage. Without intervention, many children in Sub-Saharan Africa will enter adolescence without basic reading and math skills, negatively impacting their and the continent’s future.
TaRL Africa’s approach
Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) is an evidence-based model developed in India by Pratham, designed to help children develop basic reading and math skills. The approach has been rigorously
evaluated by the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). In 2019, TaRL Africa was created to support governments and organisations to adapt and scale the approach across Africa to address the learning crisis.
TaRL Africa supports governments in strengthening their primary education systems by tailoring instruction to children’s learning needs, rather than by their age or grade level. This approach has been proven to more than double the number of children who reach foundational proficiency in reading and math.
TaRL Africa’s impact
With our support, TaRL Africa has achieved the following since 2019:
People-level outcomes
5.8 million children across 16 African countries reached by TaRL Africa and its partners.
Two to three times more children are achieving foundational literacy and numeracy
by the end of primary school than before.
Systems-level outcomes
2 countries (Zambia and Côte d’Ivoire) have formally adopted the TaRL methodology into their public education systems and are integrating it in all their primary schools with TaRL Africa’s support.
Seven states in Nigeria have also adopted the TaRL methodology with TaRL Africa’s support, with five of these allocating government funds to the work.
2,078 local education leaders equipped as “champions” to implement, train or oversee the delivery of the TaRL approach.
Organization-level outcomes
After being incubated through a partnership between J-PAL and Pratham, TaRL Africa has grown into a strong, independent African non-governmental organization with a world-class board, team, and organizational systems.
Developed a new five-year strategy to inform plans to scale and amplify impact across both current and additional countries for the years 2025-2030.
Learn more about TaRL Africa in this two-pager and infographic.
