Vahdat, Tajikistan May 31, 2019 – In honor of International Book Day, the United States Chargé d'Affaires, a.i. to Tajikistan Kevin Covert joined Deputy Minister of Education and Science Latofat Naziri, local authorities, education officials, teachers, and students in celebrating International Book Day at Vahdat School #3. Events are being held across the country to mark this occasion and are part of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) primary grade literacy program in Tajikistan.

The United States government, through USAID, supports the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Tajikistan to boost primary grade reading skills through the USAID Read with Me project, a wide-ranging program that trains 13,532 educators and expands access to high-quality reading materials for 281,451 primary students. The project has already trained school directors, librarians, and all primary grade teachers in more than 1,000 schools across the country and donated more than 140,000 age-appropriate, mother-tongue books to those schools.  The project will continue provide books and innovative teaching and learning resources to targeted schools and begin similar activities in an additional 1,800 schools over the next two years.

USAID is a steadfast partner with the Tajik government in the education sector.  USAID has been working closely with the Tajik Ministry of Education of Sciences throughout the process of selecting, writing, and distributing the books.  All of the donated books have been approved by the ministry.

The USAID Read with Me Project is one of the many assistance projects made possible by the American people through USAID.  Over the last 27 years, the United States has provided well over $1.8 billion in programs that support Tajikistan’s security, democratic institutions, social sector, and economic growth.