Recent national and regional literacy tests have shown that Malawian students rank among the lowest in the sub-Saharan African region. In fact, in Malawi, 83% of Standard 1 students cannot read a single syllable and 92% cannot read a single word. Additionally, Standard 3 students on average can only read 11 words per minute and 67% cannot identify the first sound, or phoneme, in a word. This poses a major development challenge.