Africa faces a critical deficit in foundational learning because millions of children grow up in book-poor environments. 

To fix this, there is an urgent need to create a reading culture through investing in 15 minutes a day of active parent-child co-reading and community based children books access points to spark curiosity and early learning.

If homes and communities fail to become  child first learning environments, Africa’s human capital development and social economic future remains at risk.

Reading is the first code.