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The Global Digital Library ignites children’s dream of reading in more than 100 languages
World Book and Copyright Day is an annual celebration, on 23 April, to promote the enjoyment of books and reading, connecting individuals and communities with the past and the future, bridging generations and building understanding across cultures. Yet many children across the world do not have access to books in their mother languages, which are so vital for their learning and development. Indeed, an estimated 40% of the world’s population lacks access to education in the language they speak or understand.
This year’s World Book and Copyright Day comes three years after UNESCO and partners launched the Translate a Story initiative to facilitate home-based early age reading. Launched as part of efforts to support learning continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic as millions of children could not go to school, the initiative has contributed to producing over 9000 resources, books and math games, across 103 languages, housed on the Global Digital Library. This web platform was developed through a partnership between UNESCO and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and provides high-quality early grade reading books that can be accessed for reading on digital devices or for printing.
Many of the languages on the Global Digital Library are Indigenous languages, which is the theme of the this year’s World Book and Copyright Day, as part of The International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-32), led by UNESCO. A large percentage of the 6,700 spoken languages mapped by UNESCO are Indigenous. Every languages on UNESCO’s World Atlas of Languages reflects a worldview and knowledge system, and each one relies on education and intergenerational transmission to avoid extinction, reducing cultural diversity. Unfortunately, languages are disappearing at an alarming rate and UNESCO works to promote multilingualism, including in the online space, and mother language education as the evidence shows that learning in one’s native language at a young age has a positive impact on future academic achievement.
Whilst a recent study showed that over 40% of UNESCO Member States have legislation or regulations guaranteeing the rights of national minorities to study in their mother tongue, the practical implications can be quite complicated. Digital technologies not only open up new pathways for teachers, learners and parents to access educational materials in mother languages, they also offer new modalities for generating the resources. Founded on the principle of global solidarity, the Global Digital Library relies of the efforts of volunteer translators mobilized by the Ministries of Education of each country with the support of UNESCO.
“The process is fairly simple”, explains Christer Gundersen, the Chief Technology Officer for The Global Digital Library, “someone translates, another person proofreads, and then we publish! An effective translator will normally spend less than one hour per book… because these are children’s books that are heavy on illustrations and have fairly short texts”.
Digital technologies can also engage learners in different ways. During the pandemic, UNESCO and the Global Digital Library mobilized over 100 young school students and their teachers in Bangladesh in the framework of the Translate a Story campaign. They embarked on the translation of 500 books from English into Bangla and five ethnic minority languages, enabling learners in remote areas of Bangladesh, including visually impaired children, to access reading material in their mother tongues. One student who participated in the translation exercise said: “We were an army of little book lovers from around the nation, allowed to translate the books so that the children can enjoy them in their native languages. It was a very delightful experience to work with many other bibliophiles.”
The story of the Global Digital Library
The Translate a Story campaign was a joint effort between a coalition of partners, including the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), UNHCR and the Global Book Alliance. A number of these partners are members of UNESCO’s Global Education Coalition launched in March 2020 to support countries in developing and scaling up solutions to ensure the equitable continuation of learning during the COVID-19 crisis and strengthening the resilience of education systems beyond.
When schools were closed, there was a heightened need for openly available early grade reading resources in languages children mostly use at home. In 2020, the total number of users of the Global Digital Library was 4.3 million. As shown in a 2021 UNESCO study, over 100 million children around the world will fall below the minimum proficiency level in reading due to the impact of COVID-19 school closures.
Uzbekistan, one of the first countries to embark on the project with UNESCO, quickly made over 100 books available in Uzbek, and another 100 books in Russian, which were launched by the end of 2020 on the GDL and the national platform with the Deputy Minister of Education. Other countries who have participated in the translation effort include Palestine and Qatar, whose contribution added a combined 400 books in Arabic made available on the GDL and partner StoryWeaver platforms where they can be freely accessed and used in school curricula. In Cambodia, UNESCO supported the translation of children books into Khmer with partner Let’s Read Asia (The Asia Foundation) and Norad, making nearly 100 government approved books in Khmer available for free on the GDL as well as 500 titles on the Let’s Read digital library, with plans by the Ministry to publish the books in English and Khmer on their national platform.
In 2022, following the war in Ukraine, UNESCO, Norad and other partners launched an ad hoc translation campaign to provide out of schools children with learning resources in Ukrainian. The campaign led to the translation of 175 resources in 5 weeks, covering early math and early grade reading, made available for free on the GDL, and accessible through mobile phones, tablets and other mobile learning devices. UNESCO currently works with the governments of Ghana and Indonesia to translate respectively over 200 books in 12 local languages for Ghana and over 300 books in Indonesian and 26 local languages for Indonesia.
To capitalize on the potential of digital technologies for learning, the 2021 UNESCO Rewired Global Declaration on Connectivity for Education puts forward principles and commitments to ensure that connected technologies advance aspirations for inclusive education based on the principles of justice, equity and respect for human rights.
