Special Reading Initiatives
Zardabi—Development of Primary School Students’ Reading Skills, a project initiated by the Ministry of Education, was implemented during the 2015–2016 school year.12 The purpose of the project was to create reading habits in students, develop their writing skills, and provide them with instructional resources that are compatible with international assessment standards. The project also aimed to increase parents’ knowledge as one side of the reading process and to raise public awareness regarding the development of reading skills. The Zardabi project was the first project that aimed to improve the reading skills of primary school students. Within the project, Reading Strategies seminars were held for primary school teachers. Including those in Baku, 18,615 students studying in up to 800 classes at 204 schools were in the project’s target group.