Skip to content
Internet Society Foundation
  • About
    • Board of Trustees
    • Our Projects
    • Our Team
    • 2024 Impact Report
    • 2025 Action Plan
    • Press Center
  • Funding Areas
    • Beyond the Net
    • BOLT
    • Chapter Admin Funding
    • Connecting the Unconnected
    • Encryption Day
    • Internet Governance Forum Events
    • Research
    • Resiliency
    • SCILLS
    • Sustainable Peering Infrastructure Funding Program
    • Sustainable Technical Communities
  • Resources
    • Grantee Eligibility & Compliance Guidance
    • Application Review Process
    • Alignment Requirements
    • Grant Management & Reporting Expectations
    • Grant Application and Project Implementation Guidance
    • Grant Partner Communications Toolkit
    • How to use Fluxx
    • Logo guidelines
  • News & Stories
    • News
    • Impact stories
    • The Bcc podcast
  • Careers
  • The Internet Society
  • Subscribe
  • Languages:ENESFR
FacebookTwitterLinkedinInstagramRssEmail
This content is available in the following languages
The Internet Society English is the current languageEspañolFrançais
  • Subscribe
    Internet Society Foundation
    • About
      • Board of Trustees
      • Our Projects
      • Our Team
      • 2024 Impact Report
      • 2025 Action Plan
      • Press Center
    • Funding Areas
      • Beyond the Net
      • BOLT
      • Chapter Admin Funding
      • Connecting the Unconnected
      • Encryption Day
      • Internet Governance Forum Events
      • Research
      • Resiliency
      • SCILLS
      • Sustainable Peering Infrastructure Funding Program
      • Sustainable Technical Communities
    • Resources
      • Grantee Eligibility & Compliance Guidance
      • Application Review Process
      • Alignment Requirements
      • Grant Management & Reporting Expectations
      • Grant Application and Project Implementation Guidance
      • Grant Partner Communications Toolkit
      • How to use Fluxx
      • Logo guidelines
    • News & Stories
      • News
      • Impact stories
      • The Bcc podcast
    • Careers
    • The Internet Society
    • Subscribe
    • Languages:ENESFR

    Digital Learning Project Offsets Teacher, Text Book Shortages in Kyrgyzstan

    Home / Stories / Beyond the Net / Digital Learning Project Offsets Teacher, Text Book Shortages in Kyrgyzstan

    13 February 2019


    Target Audience

    Beyond the Net

    See More Stories

    Kyrgyzstan’s educational system, devastated by the post-Soviet shift in 1991 to a free market economy, continues to suffer from a severe shortage of qualified teachers and modern text books.

    Alarmed by this shortage, Internet Society Kyrgyzstan Chapter member and engineer Erjigit Imamov created a prototype of an inexpensive microcomputer that could be safely used by students for self-study in schools where shortages are most prevalent.

    The device, called ‘Bilim Bulagy,’ which translates from Kyrgyz into ‘Spring of Knowledge,’ gives students fast, easy offline access to Khan Academy and Wikipedia in Kyrgyz, Russian and English. In some schools, it can also connect to WiFi to provide online access, as needed, to a ‘whitelist’ of other approved learning sites, and allows students to take tests and store files, such as ebooks and audio and video files.

    Imamov and his prototype quickly captured the attention of the Internet Society Kyrgyzstan Chapter, which realized that the device, at a cost of around USD$10 apiece, could be scaled to provide students with an affordable option to augment the existing educational system.

    The Chapter, with the support of a Beyond the Net Funding Programme grant from the Internet Society, launched a project to develop the prototype, partnering with the Kyrgyz Ministry of Education and Sciences to run program pilots and help negotiate with other government stakeholders. The project will be implemented in 50 pilot schools and libraries in the country in 2019.

    “The provision of textbooks in schools during the 2013-2014 academic year was only seventy-three percent,” explains project manager Isabek Asanbaev, adding that the Kyrgyz Republic was ranked last in mathematics, science and reading among nations that participated in the 2006 and 2009 rounds of the Program for International Student Assessment. “The National Sample-Based Achievement Test showed the same trend of underachievement.”

    Meanwhile, not only is the Chapter building microcomputers — it’s building a network of partners with the same goal: to strengthen opportunity and improve educational outcomes for Kyrgyz students. The organization has received additional support from the U.S. Embassy in Kyrgyzstan, and is fielding interest in partnership from the Soros Foundation and USAID (the United States Agency for International Development) to serve rural areas.

    By reaching rural areas, the device could have an ancillary but important benefit: to preserve Kyrgyz culture.

    “In our communities, many people with understaffed schools resort to migration to give their children a chance at a better education in the capital or a major town,” notes Kyrgyzstan Chapter Chair Talant Sultanov. “This project can give them the opportunity to not abandon their homes.”

    See More Stories

    The Internet is for Everyone

    The Internet Society Foundation supports the vision of the Internet Society and its work for an open, globally-connected, secure, and trustworthy Internet for everyone.

    isoc_foundation_logo@2x

    1551 Emancipation Highway #1506
    Fredericksburg, VA 22401

    1-703-439-2120

    [email protected]

    LinkedIn ISOC Foundation on Facebook ISOC Foundation on Instagram ISOC Foundation on YouTube ISOC Foundation on Twitter ISOC Foundation RSS feed
    Guidestar Platinum seal of transparency 2020

    Subscribe to our newsletter

    Get the latest news and announcements from our projects. Unsubscribe at any time. We won't use your details for anything else.

    Please enter your name.
    Please enter a valid email address.
    Subscribe!

    Thanks for subscribing! Please check your email for further instructions.

    Something went wrong. Please check your entries and try again.

    © 2024 Internet Society Foundation | Privacy Policy | Terms of use | Engagement Code of Conduct | Our Governance | DMCA Policy | Sitemap

    Scroll To Top