Free new interactive online service for educators affected by COVID-19

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., May 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The World Literacy Foundation announced today the development of an interactive "Netflix" type platform to equip educators with resources that have been affected by the indefinite school lockdown as a result of COVID-19.

The purpose behind the streaming service was born out of the coronavirus lock down of their classrooms with an estimation of 25 million teachers who are out of the classroom in low-income regions of Africa, Asia, Middle East and Latin America

The World Literacy Foundation quickly realized the tribulations faced by millions of educators and the opportunity to use this time to upskill and receive professional development. 

Andrew Kay, CEO of the World Literacy Foundation explains, "regardless of a teacher's geographic location, with a mobile phone they can access for FREE, hundreds of hours of presentations, research, best practices, podcasts, teacher tools & resources for free. In a month, our team designed a digital, remote learning platform, specifically for teachers in rural, remote and isolated communities."

The online learning platform has undergone rapid development in 5 weeks to facilitate 600 pieces of suitable content for educators from varying backgrounds and languages.

"In a short amount of time, we have worked in partnership with the global literacy community to swiftly develop a scalable solution for educators" says Mr Kay. "This initiative has been a powerful reminder of what we can achieve together, and the importance of education during this crisis." It has been estimated that 75% of the 85 million educators in the globe will be directly affected by the Coronavirus lockdown, many of which will be keen to access developmental resources and tools in the meantime.

According to the latest available data from UNESCO, 1.57 billion students have been affected by school closures in more than 190 countries, worldwide.

"Just as COVID-19's impact has no borders, its solutions must not have borders, as it requires the collaboration across public and private sectors to ensure every educator remains engaged and continues to learn," says Mr Kay. 

For more information about the World Literacy Foundation, please visit www.worldliteracyfoundation.org

SOURCE World Literacy Foundation