Islamabad, September 8, 2015 - USAID Deputy Mission Director Cathy Moore celebrated the launch of four new mobile libraries provided through the Pakistan Reading Project at a government secondary school in Islamabad today as part of International Literacy Day, a global effort to encourage reading and education.  The new buses will bring reading materials to more than 300 communities across Pakistan, reaching more than 2,500 students in 100 primary schools in Islamabad alone, and many more in rural parts of the nation which may not have traditional library resources.  The buses will also be staffed by trained librarians, who will conduct storytelling sessions for children and young adults, and talk to older patrons about library services and the importance of literacy.

"The United States is pleased to be supporting this Mobile Library Program which will bring books and other reading materials directly to communities," Moore said.  "I am happy that through today's roll-out of the mobile bus libraries under the USAID-funded Pakistan Reading Program we are continuing this tradition of supporting Pakistan in its efforts to strengthen its education system and promote a culture of reading."

The USAID-funded Pakistan Reading Project is a $165 million project, designed to support provincial and regional department of education to improve the reading skills of primary school children across the country. This program is designed to utilize three interrelated components to affect the quality of early education: improved classroom learning environment for reading, improved policies and systems for reading, and community based support for reading in Pakistan.