New Partnership with Save the Children and Library For All to Create Accessible Materials for Students in Bhutan

Every child should be able to learn, but due to the pandemic, far too many students are still out of school. Additionally, for many children with reading barriers, few accessible resources are available in their local language. We are thrilled to share this announcement from our partner, Library for All about a new project that addresses both of these challenges to make online learning more accessible and inclusive for students with disabilities in Bhutan:

Kuzu zangpo la! We’re saying hello from Bhutan – home to over half a million Dzongkha speakers, and also one of the world’s most successful pandemic responses. 

A crucial part of Bhutan’s response has been widespread lockdowns, closing schools and taking learning online. For children with disabilities, though, the move to online learning isn’t so simple.

We’re partnering with global leader in inclusive reading materials, Benetech and Save the Children Bhutan to create 100 accessible digital books in Dzongkha, braille and audio to support at-home learning. These books will be freely available on the Library For All app.

Thank you to UNESCO for leading this project as part of the “Accelerated Funding to Strengthen GPE’s Global and Regional Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic” – a joint project by UNESCO, UNICEF and The World Bank with funding from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), seeking to scale solutions to ensure learning continuity for marginalised children.

Read about the work of our Bookshare India Team: The Road to Digital Learning and Employment in India