USAID Learn Together Activity

OVERVIEW

The USAID Learn Together Activity (LTA) will support Tajikistan’s Ministry of Education and Science’s (MoES) capacity to develop and implement cohesive primary education policies and programs, including system strengthening and public-private partnerships. The Activity will directly contribute to key objectives in the republic in Tajikistan’s National Strategy for Education Development (2021 - 2030): professionalize teacher education, develop and implement quality and assurance measures for competency-based learning, and utilize relevant data to inform policies and programs. These partnerships, including with the private sector, will be key drivers to improve the primary education system in Tajikistan.

OBJECTIVES 

The primary goal of USAID LTA is to improve basic education skills for students in grades 1-4, with a focus on improving reading comprehension, critical thinking skills, and mathematics. Intended coverage is in at least 80 percent of Tajik and Russian language primary schools to improve student learning outcomes. The five-year activity will use an evidence-based instructional approach to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes and will provide training, coaching, and materials to teachers in grades 1-4. Supplementary reading and math materials will be made available to students to complement instruction and build academic and content-specific vocabulary and numeracy skills.

ACHIEVED RESULTS: 

USAID LTA signed a Memorandum of Understanding with MoES on July 25, 2022 and received a list of 3,115 target schools to support nationwide. Below are some critical results achieved thus far: 

• Conducted Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA), Early Grade Math Assessment (EGMA), Social Emotional Learning (SEL), and Snapshot of School Management Effectiveness (SSME) baseline data collection in 286 schools.
• Received MoES approval for standards and syllabi developed for all primary subjects and pre-service syllabus for methodology of teaching mathematics, Tajik language, pedagogy, and psychology.
• In collaboration with the Republican In-service Teacher Training Institute (RITTI), initiated a pilot of the teacher training program in 400 schools across the country. To deliver this pilot program, USAID LTA prepared 249 Community Based Methodological Units (CBMU)-level trainers. As a result, 3,604 teachers improved their instructional planning skills, designed students’ learning exemplars, defined the knowledge and skills for each competency, and differentiated classroom instructions to meet the range of different student needs.  
• The Scientific Council of RITTI reviewed and approved the USAID LTA teacher training material set including (1) teacher’s toolkit; (2) teacher’s workbook and (3) trainer’s guide.
• Developed 140 literacy cards in Tajik and 52 in Russian languages, and 140 numeracy cards. 
• Developed 20 different titles of famous books (12 titles in Tajik and 8 titles in Russian), and printed 10 titles in braille and large print.
• Designed a mobile application for grades 3-4 students with 50 USAID developed stories from the “best collection of children’s literature” and 10 interesting educational games aligned with Tajikistan’s primary subject standards.