Image of several children smiling and posing for a photo outside.

Encouraging Young Readers in the Kyrgyz Republic .

Education | Advancing Quality Education
Europe and Eurasia

Kyrgyz Republic USAID: Quality Reading Program – Time to Read

Project Dates: October 2016 - March 2021
The Kyrgyz Republic is building momentum to improve how reading is taught and increase the availability of age-appropriate reading materials nationwide.

The Kyrgyz Republic’s Ministry of Education and Science recently introduced new reading standards and other reforms to achieve its vision of improving how well and how fast primary school children learn. To further improve the education system and boost early grade reading, the Kyrgyz Republic USAID: Quality Reading Program – Time to Read is supporting teachers and students to improve reading instruction and foster a culture of reading. The purpose of TTR is to improve the core reading skills of students in the first through fourth grades in 900 schools across the country. Gathering and analyzing data from early grade reading assessments will help enable practitioners to develop higher-quality reading materials nationwide and enrich classroom environments.

1,505,938

books printed and distributed over the life of the project.

9,000

workshops led for primary grade teachers.

1,350

school librarians trained to lead out-of-class activities for students

Project Goals


  • Create assessment tools and instruction materials in Kyrgyz and Russian to track reading instruction and reading skills and contribute to the improvement of them
  • Increase students’ access to age- and grade-level appropriate reading materials in their native languages
  • Design a reading ladder tool that will guide how practitioners identify books and supplementary reading materials that are appropriate for specific age and grade levels, better enabling students to develop core reading skills at their own pace
  • Provide training and resources (such as toolkits and in-service training, coaching, and peer support) to improve teachers’ classroom performance

Time to read with Mirgul by USAID Kyrgyz Republic on Exposure

Time to read with Arsen by USAID Kyrgyz Republic on Exposure