Availability of educational book fund makes 70.5% in Kyrgyzstan

Bishkek, April 21, 2022. / Kabar /. The availability of educational book fund in Kyrgyzstan is 70.5%, director of the Zhany Kitep (New Book) institution Tolegen Amatov said during a press conference at Kabar News Agency. He noted that there is an acute shortage of educational and fiction literature in schools of the republic. "Thus, in order to fully provide students with books our institution together with the Ministry of Education and Science has created an electronic library, which contains all educational material. More than 1.5 thousand books have been digitized today,” Amatov noted. Amatov also noted that the institution has done extensive work, in particular: - an information system for book inventory has been created; - a book inventory management system has been created; - automated software systems have been implemented in libraries; - libraries have been provided with computer equipment; - promising trainings and professional development for library staff were conducted; - the first forum of school librarians was held. In turn, director of the USAID Okuu Keremet Project Liana Gertsch spoke about the activities of their project. “Active since 2019, the USAID Okuu Keremet project is working to improve the reading and math learning in primary schools, and one important way to improve reading is to make books available that children love to read. The project has generated more than 850 digital books in 4 languages covering a range of genres. These books are available on national and international websites, they’re all produced by Kyrgyz authors and illustrators. These books cover diverse topics and are illustrated by beautiful artwork,” she noted. The above books will also be presented tomorrow, April 22, at the book festival.