The USAID-funded Pakistan Reading Project (PRP), implemented by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and its partners (Creative Associates International, World Learning, and Institute of Rural Management), is a seven-year project with the objective to support the provincial and regional departments of education (DoE) throughout Pakistan to improve the reading skills of children in grades one and two. The project aims to achieve this goal through three components that work in synergy to affect the quality of early grade education: improved classroom learning environment for reading, improved policies and systems for reading, and improved community-based support for reading in Pakistan.

The project is improving the quality of teaching and assessment of reading by supporting improvements to teachers’ pre-service education, providing a model for continuous professional development for in-service teachers, and making supplemental instructional materials more widely available to primary school teachers. The project’s strategy entails supporting efforts of the Government of Pakistan in each province and region to achieve these goals. To ensure sustainable improvement in the quality of reading instruction in Pakistan, the project is focusing on building the capacity of provincial and district government stakeholders.

Working closely with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and teacher education apex institutions, the project developed the reading curricula for the two-year Associate Degree in Education (ADE) and four-year Bachelor’s Degree in Education (B.Ed.) Honors programs and supported these programs in 110 teacher training institutes across Pakistan. To attract and assist qualified students enroll in these degree programs, the project has awarded 3,161 USAID merit-based scholarships.

The Pakistan Reading Project is promoting the adaptation and implementation of policies that promote quality teaching and will ensure the sustainability of its initiatives over time through permanent policy changes.]

The intervention improved reading instruction of 26,266 teachers in public schools. To date, 1.38 million grade 1 and 2 students have benefitted from the project in-service teacher training program across 7 provinces of Pakistan.