USAID's Pakistan Reading Project Announced as the U.S. Library Of Congress' International Literacy Program Of The Year For 2020
The United States Library of Congress announced it has selected the Pakistan Reading Project, a literacy program funded by USAID, as the International Literacy Program of the Year for 2020.
Over the past seven years, working in tandem with Pakistani education officials, USAID's Pakistan Reading Project has improved the reading skills of 1.7 million Pakistani students by delivering instructional materials to classrooms, training teachers in new techniques, and encouraging schools to dedicate more classroom time for reading. Implemented by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), along with Creative Associates International, World Learning, and the Institute of Rural Management, this early-grade literacy project also has worked closely with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to institutionalize positive change by improving policies and systems to improve reading instruction across the national, provincial, and local levels.
The Pakistan Reading Project (PRP) supports regional and provincial education departments to improve literacy and reading skills of public school children in grades one and two throughout Pakistan. The project produced 250 reading materials in 6 languages (Urdu, Sindhi, Pashto, Balochi, Brahui, and Pashto (Balochistan) suitable for beginning readers both in the classroom and at home.
This month the Global Book Alliance worked closely with the PRP implementer, International Rescue Committee, to add materials from the USAID Pakistan Reading Project to the Global Digital Library (GDL), providing increased access to learners throughout Pakistan as well as for speakers of these languages across the world. With support from efforts like the Pakistan Reading Project, the GDL and GBA are continuing to add materials from languages worldwide.
Funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, the Global Digital Library is a flagship initiative of the GBA. The GDL is a free to use platform that currently hosts materials in 62 languages. Have a look at the newly added Pakistan materials in the following languages: