USAID-funded Pakistan Reading Project - Quarterly Progress Report – October 2018 – December 2018

The project operates in 69 districts across the country, targeting over 23,800 teachers in public schools and 111 teacher education institutions. PRP achieves its objectives through three key components: teacher training, policy reform, and community support for reading. The project's professional development model emphasizes face-to-face training, with all teachers attending a 5-day training session in the first year and a 3-day refresher in the second year. Additionally, PRP provides condensed training for newly transferred or inducted grade 1 and 2 teachers. During the reporting quarter, PRP trained 750 teachers, bringing the total number of trained teachers to 25,049. The project also trained 446 government officials, including 38 mentors, 20 academic supervisors, and 388 head teachers, with a total of 10,612 trained by the end of the quarter. Furthermore, PRP distributed 45,892 copies of Reading Learning Materials (RLM) to mentors, academic supervisors, teachers, students, and other government officials, totaling 5,300,617 copies by the end of December 2018. PRP's policy reform efforts led to the notification of the revised Scheme of Studies by the AJK Education Department, developed with the project's technical support. In Sindh, the School Education and Literacy Department (SELD) approved the revised Sindh and Urdu language curriculum for grades 1-5, with PRP providing technical support to integrate reading into the curriculum. The project's community support component focuses on improving the reading skills of children through various interventions, including the distribution of RLM and the establishment of Mobile Bus Libraries (MBLs). PRP's efforts have led to significant improvements in reading skills, with children showing a 27% increase in reading proficiency compared to the control group. PRP's quarterly progress report highlights the project's achievements in improving education quality, access, and management in Pakistan. The project's focus on teacher training, policy reform, and community support has led to significant improvements in reading skills among children, with a total of 5,300,617 copies of RLM distributed by the end of December 2018.