The Tibet Fund established this program to improve Tibetan language reading skills in grades 1-2, the most critical years for early literacy development. Since 2014, more than 700 educators have received training and language learning aids to improve early reading instruction, and reading corners have been installed in 614 classrooms and school hostels. Parents of young children have received workshops and books to encourage reading at home, and librarians have improved book collections and organized reading activities at 55 school libraries. 

More than 200 new titles of original and translated children’s literature have been published with our support, and over 570,000 copies have been distributed to classrooms, libraries, hostels, and parents of young children. Reading corners stocked with age-appropriate Tibetan language children’s books have been installed in every K-5 classroom in 62 Tibetan schools in India and Nepal.

Today the percentage of primary children in Tibetan schools who can read competently stands at 50%, an increase from the baseline of 26% recorded in 2017. Our goal is to reach 100% by 2027.