Bishkek, January 19 / Kabar /. Today on January 19, the U.S. Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic Pamela L. Spratlen will sign an agreement with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Aga Khan Foundation to reprint over 90,000 copies of multi-language books for children. The press service of the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek reports.
The Ministry of Education and Science is working to further promote interethnic learning and tolerance at the national level. In support of this, the U. S. Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Transition Initiatives (USAID/OTI) will reprint 90,500 copies of dual-language (Kyrgyz-Uzbek, Kyrgyz-Russian, Kyrgyz-Tajik, and Kyrgyz-English) books for children. The Ministry will assist in distributing the books among 2,191 officially registered schools throughout the country. Additionally, USAID/OTI will support the Aga Khan Foundation and the Kyrgyz Academy of Education to develop and distribute 4,382 copies of tool-kits for teachers.
With funding from USAID/OTI, the multi-language books were developed through a partnership between the Aga Khan Foundation and the Ministry of Education and Science as a direct response to the June 2010 conflict and in line with the national government initiative to promote the consolidation of a multicultural society. Last year, the books were distributed in 25 public libraries, 389 school libraries and 45 kindergarten libraries in Osh and Jalalabad oblasts.