AKIPRESS.COM - The Asia Foundation’s Books for Asia Program, the Mongolian Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, and the Let’s Read! Mongolia digital library deliver a library of stories into the hands of underprivileged students.

Let’s Read! Mongolia will use high-impact, low-cost technology to give children access to age-appropriate books in Mongolian and English. The pilot project is being implemented in 6 public secondary schools serving residents of ger districts on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar. Half of Ulaanbaatar’s 1.5 million residents live in ger areas – residential zones occupied by rural migrants that lack access to basic public services like water, sewage systems and central heating.

Let’s Read! runs on an Android-based library platform that enables distribution to schools of e-books in Mongolian and English. The initial library collection consists of more than 200 Mongolian and English children’s literature e-books that will be added to over time. During the pilot project, the books will be freely used by about 2,500 students from grades 5 to 9; more than 90 teachers of Mongolian and English language, literature and ICT; as well as librarians.