teaching and learning Archives

The Luminos Fund Launches “Bilingual Boost” Initiative with Support from the Gates Foundation

Apr 27, 2026 | Luminos Fund | In the News, Press Release

Visit the Bilingual Boost website to learn more: www.bilingual-boost.org.

Accra, Ghana, April 27, 2026 — The Luminos Fund, with support from the Gates Foundation, is launching a new initiative to strengthen how children learn to read in multilingual classrooms across sub-Saharan Africa.

The three-year initiative, Bilingual Boost, will bring together community-based organizations, educators, researchers, and government partners to address a critical constraint to learning: the transition between languages of instruction in the classroom. Students often begin learning in their home language or another familiar language, but are expected too quickly to read and learn in a second language before foundational skills are fully established. As a result, too many children fall behind in both languages. The fact that nine out of ten children in low-income countries cannot read by age 10 underscores the scale of this challenge. There is strong evidence that learning in a familiar language is effective, but far less is known on how to support children as they shift to a second language. The transition can interrupt learning—especially for vocabulary and comprehension—making it harder for children to build on what they already know.

Bilingual Boost will generate new evidence about how children can transition from one language to another, without falling behind, by piloting bilingual literacy approaches across Ghana, Mozambique, and South Africa. The pilot will create practical, open-access resources for educators and governments to use to inform their own practice, with the potential to scale.

“Every child has the potential to learn far more, far faster than many systems expect,” said Caitlin Baron, CEO of the Luminos Fund and editor of The Luminos Method. “But too often, children are expected to learn in a language they do not yet understand. Bilingual Boost will help ensure that the most marginalized children can build strong foundations in a language they know and successfully transition to a second language.”

“Every child has the potential to learn far more, far faster than many systems expect. But too often, children are expected to learn in a language they do not yet understand. Bilingual Boost will help ensure that the most marginalized children can build strong foundations in a language they know and successfully transition to a second language.”

Caitlin Baron, CEO, The Luminos Fund

“Children learn best when they can first build strong reading skills in a language they speak and understand—and when schools know how to support them as they transition to a second language. Bilingual Boost is an important step toward identifying practical, evidence-based approaches that help teachers transfer skills from a child’s first language to a second language. By focusing on both foundational skills and how they transfer, this work can inform more effective instruction and policy at scale in typical classrooms in sub-Saharan Africa,” said Dr. Nic Spaull, Senior Program Officer at the Gates Foundation.

“Bilingual Boost is an important step toward identifying practical, evidence-based approaches that help teachers transfer skills from a child’s first language to a second language. By focusing on both foundational skills and how they transfer, this work can inform more effective instruction and policy at scale in typical classrooms in sub-Saharan Africa.”

Dr. Nic Spaull, Senior Program Officer, Gates Foundation

Working in partnership with Associação Progresso, Click Learning, and MAPA Consultores, Bilingual Boost will support children to build strong reading skills in their first language and successfully transfer those skills to a second language—an essential step for long-term learning success. The initiative will also identify what works to help children learn across languages and develop tools for teachers and Ministries of Education to improve instruction. This includes new approaches to measuring vocabulary and reading comprehension, as well as clear guidance on when and how to transition between languages in the classroom.

A central feature of the initiative is the Bilingual Advisory Council (BAC), an independent group led by experts from sub-Saharan Africa and beyond, advancing bilingual literacy. The BAC will contribute insights and guidance to efforts like Bilingual Boost while helping ensure the work reflects both the latest research and real classroom experience. The BAC will also play a key role in ensuring research findings reach policymakers and practitioners who can drive practical change.

For Luminos, the initiative builds on more than a decade of experience delivering cost-effective education programs that help vulnerable and out-of-school children to develop literacy, numeracy, and socio-emotional skills. Working in communities affected by crisis, poverty, and discrimination across sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, Luminos has helped nearly half a million children secure a second chance to learn. Bilingual Boost represents the next step in this work, applying these lessons to one of the most significant challenges facing education systems today: how children learn across languages.

Ultimately, our goal is to ensure all children have equal access to joyful, foundational learning.

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About the Gates Foundation

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, they work with partners to create impactful solutions so that people can take charge of their futures and achieve their full potential. The Global Education team works to improve reading and math skills for children in sub-Saharan Africa and India. They develop innovative solutions rooted in data and evidence to accelerate improvements in learning outcomes, close research gaps, and test bold ideas that can lead to solutions that rapidly improve foundational learning on a broad scale.

About the Luminos Fund

The Luminos Fund runs education programs for some of the most vulnerable and hardest-to-reach children in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. We support children to learn how to read, write, and do math through a joyful, activity-based curriculum that helps them catch up and thrive in school. Luminos’ mission is to ensure all children have equal access to joyful, foundational learning—especially those shut out of education by crisis, poverty, or discrimination. To date, Luminos has helped hundreds of thousands of children to develop literacy, numeracy and socio-emotional skills.

About Associação Progresso

PROGRESSO is a Mozambican civil society organization established in 1991, widely recognized for its pioneering role in promoting bilingual education in Mozambique. Since 2008, the organization has led the implementation and expansion of bilingual education, advancing literacy among children, youth, and adults through the use of local languages alongside Portuguese. Over the years, PROGRESSO has supported the introduction of bilingual education in more than 1,800 primary schools, strengthening early grade reading and writing skills. In addition, the organization has developed culturally relevant teaching and learning materials, including children’s books and supplementary reading resources in both Portuguese and local languages. The organization was awarded the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize in 2015 and the International Reading Association (IRA) Award in 2005.

About Click Learning

Click Learning is an NGO that helps under-serviced primary schools in South Africa improve foundational literacy, numeracy and digital skills through online learning programs. These programs allow young learners to work at their own pace and navigate their learning journey using technology. In the process, Click Learning creates jobs for unemployed youth who assist schools and teachers with implementation.

About MAPA Consultores

MAPA Consultores is a Mozambique-based consulting firm that provides technical assistance, research, and implementation support to strengthen education systems and improve learning outcomes. MAPA works closely with government, donors, and local partners to design and support practical, scalable solutions in areas such as foundational learning, bilingual education, teacher professional development, and education research. With deep knowledge of the Mozambican context and strong local networks, MAPA helps bridge policy and implementation to ensure education initiatives are relevant, feasible, and positioned for impact.

Sharing What Works: Classroom Resources Developed by Luminos

Feb 2, 2026 | Luminos Fund | In the News, Teaching & Learning

Starting with The Gambia, we are pleased to share our comprehensive set of teaching and learning materials, designed to support teachers and learners alike in delivering and experiencing joyful, foundational learning.

Across Luminos programs, children who once struggled to read are mastering foundational skills and closing years of learning gaps in just months.

The science of reading is clear: with the right instruction, every child can learn. At the Luminos Fund, we have spent years turning that evidence into practical, classroom-ready tools—developed in close partnership with communities and adapted to local languages and cultures—that help teachers teach effectively and children learn with confidence and joy.

In just 10 months, hundreds of thousands of vulnerable and out-of-school children across sub-Saharan Africa have caught up on the equivalent of the first three years of primary school through the Luminos Method.

Now we are sharing these tools with the world. Starting with our complete set of teaching and learning materials from The Gambia, we are making our resources public so educators everywhere can adapt, use, and scale what works—helping more children catch up and thrive.

Inside the Luminos Teaching and Learning Materials

The Luminos accelerated learning program helps children catch up to grade level, transition into government schools, and build strong foundations for lifelong learning.

The program is organized into three phases, with materials designed to support both teachers and students. Through daily instruction, continuous assessment, and targeted support, learners can progress through the equivalent of three years of primary school in just ten months. Each phase builds on the last—from early phonics and basic numeracy to independent reading, writing, and problem-solving—preparing students to transition into Grade 3 or higher. Materials for each phase include a Teacher’s Guide, Student Book, Decodable Readers, and Read-Aloud stories.

Literacy: Phase 1 begins with letter-sound identification, decoding, blending, segmenting, oral language development, and writing practice. These foundational literacy skills are gradually built in Phases 2 and 3, increasing in complexity so children learn to read with meaning. Instruction is grounded in explicit, systematic phonics, teaching the relationship between letters and sounds and enabling children to decode new words rather than rely on memorization.
Numeracy: Students start with number identification and naming, then move to number comparison and basic operations such as addition and subtraction. Over time, children master complex, application-based skills, including solving word problems. Concepts are first taught using physical objects, then visual representations, before introducing numbers and symbols. This concrete–pictorial–abstract approach ensures children build real understanding before working at an abstract level.

The materials also include strategies to support diverse learning needs, ensuring all students can make progress.

How Learning Comes Alive in Luminos Classrooms

Lessons in Luminos classrooms are structured, interactive, and joyful. Local stories, songs, games, movement, and hands-on activities are woven into every lesson. Students work collaboratively in pairs and groups, practice new skills in supportive settings, and often take on leadership roles in the classroom.

These approaches are especially important for children who are new to school, learning in a language they do not speak at home, or are the first in their families to learn to read.

Teachers are supported through a structured pedagogy model that combines high-quality materials with training and ongoing coaching, helping them bring learning to life every day.

How Do We Know This Works?

More than 30 independent, external evaluations show that Luminos students make extraordinary learning gains. In just 10 months, Luminos students progress from not recognizing letters of the alphabet to reading short stories. On average, 90 percent of Luminos students advance to mainstream schools, and 75 percent of students remain in schools after 12 months. Luminos students are also twice as likely to complete primary school than their peers.

Luminos Classroom Resources in The Gambia

Explore Luminos classroom resources from The Gambia, and stay informed about new materials from our other programs by subscribing to our Spotlight newsletter.

Phase 1

Builds early foundational literacy and numeracy skills, including basic phonics, simple word blending, early writing, counting to 100, and basic addition and subtraction.

Phase 2

Deepens core reading, writing, and math understanding as learners master letter sounds, read and write simple sentences, work with numbers up to 1,000, and begin multiplication and shape recognition.

Phase 3

Prepares learners for independent reading, writing, and confident mathematical problem-solving with more complex texts, regrouping in addition and subtraction, word problems, and application of multiplication facts.