Visnew padmalabon is a date journalist an the economist. In 20 22, 70 % of ten year olds in these countries could not read or understand the simple written text. Even before the pan demic, this figure, which the world bank calls the learning povety rate, was 57%. This data suggests that schools are failing children. But this is not a recent crisis. A paper published earlier this year by researchers at the centre for global development suggests that the problem is actually part of a long tonge tran.