Can AI Be a Force Multiplier for Education in South Asia & Africa?

Despite progress in improving foundational literacy and numeracy, the scale of the education crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and South Asia remains daunting. Today, 86% of children in SSA and 56% in India at late primary age cannot read and understand a simple text (World Bank, 2022). In SSA, only one in ten Grade 4 teachers master their students’ language curriculum, and many struggle with basic numeracy and literacy tasks themselves.

Yet, there are examples of remarkable progress: In India, ASER data shows a 36 percentage point increase in Grade 2 numeracy and reading in Uttar Pradesh and an 8.9 percentage point increase in Madhya Pradesh between 2018 and 2024, driven by state-led structured pedagogy efforts under the NIPUN Bharat Mission, supported by CSF. In Kenya, an external evaluation of the Tusome program showed an impact of 0.71 SD in English and Kiswahili in 22,000 schools.

These successes demonstrate that change is possible, but how can we amplify and accelerate these outcomes at scale using AI-driven solutions?