Due to the spread of COVID-19, more than 1.5 billion children and youth are out of school as of April 10, 2020. Many lack access to reading materials in a language they understand.
In response, the Global Book Alliance is collaborating with Norway, UNESCO, UNHCR, ADEA, Verizon, Learning Equality and Creative Commons to set up a “translation sprint” to support volunteers to translate children’s reading books into as many local languages from around the globe as possible from April 8th - May 29th, 2020.
Translation sprint volunteers will translate children’s storybooks from English into any other language that they know, with a focus on underserved, local and regional languages since those who use these languages are likely to face a greater shortage of appropriate educational materials at home.
The Global Digital Library will participate alongside other platforms that provide open educational resources both online including: Pratham Books’ StoryWeaver, The Asia Foundation’s Let’s Read, African Storybook. Volunteers may choose to translate materials for any or all of these providers, and all translated works will become available on the offline educational application Kolibri.
Once translated, the digital books will undergo a quality assurance process, after which the titles will become publicly available. Books will be available for on and offline use as well as for printing.
The GBA is calling for those who are bilingual or multilingual to spread the word and join the effort at TranslateAStory.org
Sign up and help reduce the impact on COVID-19 on learning by providing materials in underserved languages.