Edugist Launches Global First Journalism Beat to Tackle Foundational Learning Crisis

Funmi Ogundare

Edugist, an African education newsroom and innovation lab, has launched a dedicated journalism beat on foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) to strengthen accountability and address the growing crisis of children leaving primary school without basic reading and counting skills.

The Foundational Literacy and Numeracy beat, described by the organisation as the first journalism beat globally dedicated exclusively to the issue, will investigate education policies, government spending, research outcomes and classroom realities affecting children’s acquisition of foundational learning skills.

The initiative comes amid concerns that nearly nine in 10 children in low-income African countries cannot read with understanding by age 10, despite attending school, while an estimated 617 million children globally remain below minimum proficiency levels in reading and Mathematics.

In Nigeria, the majority of children reportedly complete primary education without acquiring the foundational skills required for further learning.

Founder of Edugist, Elvis Boniface, said the initiative was designed to bridge the gap between education research, policymaking and classroom practice, while ensuring that investments in foundational learning produce measurable results.

“Africa has been talking about learning outcomes for decades, but the conversation has largely stayed in conference rooms and donor reports,” Boniface said.

He explained that years of education reporting and the organisation’s involvement in early childhood education development had exposed persistent gaps between research findings, government policies and the experiences of teachers and learners.

“The FLN beat exists to close that gap, to be the journalism layer that the entire FLN ecosystem has been missing,” he stated.

The launch comes as governments and international development organisations increase investments in foundational learning across Africa and other parts of the global south.

In March 2025, the World Bank approved $500 million in HOPE-EDU financing for Nigeria to support education reforms, including improvements in foundational learning.

Other initiatives, including the Foundational Learning Compact, UNICEF’s Foundational Learning Action (FLA) tracker and Teaching at the Right Level Africa, are also working to improve learning outcomes across the continent.

However, Boniface noted that increased funding and policy interventions must be accompanied by independent reporting to track implementation, assess results and ensure that resources reach the children who need them.

“The new beat would extend beyond education sector stakeholders to focus on the millions of children whose learning needs remain unmet.

“We are not launching a beat for the FLN community alone. We are launching it for the 250 million children across the global south who are sitting in classrooms right now and still cannot read. Every policy decision, every research finding, every dollar spent, it either reaches those children or it does not. Our job is to report on why,” the founder stressed.

The FLN beat, he noted, will focus on government policies and budget accountability, evidence of what works in improving learning outcomes, teachers’ experiences in underfunded classrooms and the challenges faced by communities whose children lack essential learning skills.

Edugist, he said, also plans to publish an annual state of FLN in Africa report to document progress, setbacks and persistent challenges in foundational literacy and numeracy across the continent.

As part of the initiative, he also announced Learning Changes Everything, a monthly podcast bringing together researchers, policymakers and classroom teachers to discuss practical solutions to the foundational learning crisis.

The inaugural episode, titled, ‘Can Nigeria Reach Every Child Before Grade 4? ‘, will feature a J-PAL Africa education researcher, the Edo State Commissioner for Education and a grade two teacher from Kano State.

The podcast will be available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other major platforms.