Our team has started work on bringing the Internet to Zardaly village!
Now the first stage of our project has begun. Our engineer Erzhigit Imamov left for a detailed study of the area, after which the equipment will be ordered.
The second stage will be the installation of a metal frame and radio retranslators, which will be installed in the vicinity of Zardala, and through them, the Internet will be carried out to the village.
solar panels for powering Internet radio repeaters
The third stage: Accommodation in the village of Zardaly for 5 days, to teach local residents digital skills, ways to make money through the Internet, various ways of learning, and much more!
The ISOC team would like to thank New-Tek LLC, a domestic solar panel manufacturer, for providing a discount on solar panels!
The project is being applied with collaboration to Taza Koom — Center for Strategic Initiatives.
“Internet and Digital Skills for Remote Community of Zardaly” was provided in part by the USG Alumni Small Grants Program, which is funded by the U.S. Embassy Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic and administered by American Councils for International Education Kyrgyzstan. The opinions expressed herein are the author’s own and do not necessarily express the views of either U.S. Embassy in the Kyrgyz Republic or the American Councils for International Education.
The ilimbox team visited schools with the Kyrgyz language of instruction and introduced the teachers and school administration to the ilimbox educational platform. The teachers offered the following suggestions.
The ilimbox team has simplified the registration process on the ilimbox educational platform, taking into account the suggestions made.
It is now possible to register on the platform by a mobile phone number, as well as by e-mail.
The ilimbox team will continue to familiarize themselves with the platform at schools and will consider all comments and suggestions.
“Ilimbox.kg is an educational online platform for schools with Kyrgyz language of instruction.”
The Ilimbox Distance Learning Educational Platform for Schoolchildren project is funded by the Democratic Commission’s Small Grants Program of the US Embassy in the Kyrgyz Republic 2020-2021.The Ilimbox project is funded by the Democratic Commission Small Grants Program of the US Embassy in the Kyrgyz Republic.
In October 2020, the ISOC team, within the framework of the European Union project “Promoting Inclusive Education in the Kyrgyz Republic”, installed Ilimbox devices in 20 schools without the Internet. The Ilimbox, also known as the Internet in a Box, contains basic educational materials available without an Internet connection.
To speed up the delivery of Ilimbox devices, the ISOC team traveled from Bishkek in 3 different directions: Jalal-Abad oblast (9 schools), Issyk-Kul and Naryn oblasts (7 schools), Osh and Batken oblasts (4 schools).
The first group of villages was located in the Ala-Buka district of the Jalal-Abad region, on the border with Uzbekistan. When visiting these schools, our team came across the expression “dwarf school”: due to the lack of teachers, 1st and 3rd grades are taught in one lesson at the same time.
Entrance to the school named after E. Bakiev in Ala-Buka district, Jalal-Abad region
The main problems in the region are constant power outages and lack of roads, which is why children come to school on horseback from mountain villages. The following schools are located in Chatkal and Suzak districts: Chakmak-Suu, s. Achy, s. Markai and S. Ortok. Ortok village was remarkable for us. Most of all, the residents of this village complain about the lack of Kyrgyz television: they cannot watch the news and only show Uzbek channels. Teachers at the local school liked the Ilimbox device, and they especially liked the fact that a large amount of educational material can be found in one resource. They also liked our Android application and the ability to manage content without searching the entire phone.
First and third-grade students in one lesson in a dwarf school
In Bazar-Korgon region, we visited a school in the village of Zhaz-Kechuu. The road to the village lies through walnut forests and small passes; in winter, due to snow and the lack of a road, residents can only ride horses to the nearest village. Electricity in this village was carried out only this fall. Therefore, residents of Jaz-Kechuu are just getting used to using computers and printers, watching TV, and using a mobile device not only for communication. Despite low digital skills, local school teachers were actively learning to use Ilimbox. In total, the school has about 70 students.
New electricity meter in the village of Zhaz-Kechuu
In the Issyk-Kul region, Ilimboks devices were installed in the villages of Eңilchek and Ak-Shyirak. Eңilchek was a developed mining village in the past. Now only about 150 people live here permanently. The local school has 5 classes with about 20 children and 11 teachers. The village has a mobile connection, but there is no Internet, which is why the electronic library was met with great interest: the teachers liked the offline Wikipedia most of all, using which they can find out more useful information, which means they can prepare interesting and informative lessons.
Ak-Shyirak school stidents
The second village of the Issyk-Kul region, Ak-Shyirak, is located 5 hours drive from Karakol. Departure to the city is hampered by mudflows and snowfalls. The villagers rarely travel to the city. The number of students is more than 70, children from neighboring villages live in dormitories, warm houses have also been built for teachers from other cities. There is a mobile connection, but no more than 4 people can use it at the same time.
Next, Ilimboks devices were installed in the Nookat region in the villages: Kayyudy and Kichi Alai. Both villages are considered the most remote villages in the Osh region. The village of Kayindy begins with a birch grove and is surrounded by mountains. Nature here is indescribably beautiful. The school has about 30 students, but the village has no Internet, as well as mobile communications. In the village of Kichi Alai, there is a mobile connection, but the mobile Internet does not provide sufficient speed for children to fully watch video lessons.
Ilimbox connected to a TV in the village of Kara-Shoro in the Alai district of the Osh region
In the Kadamjai region, an electronic library was installed in the village of Shoro. The road to this village lies through the Shakhimardan enclave, through which only local residents are allowed. Therefore, the team members had to go through a bypass, which was 3 times longer. This school had a TV with Wi-Fi technology, so we were able to connect the Ilimbox device to the TV and demonstrate another way to use Ilimbox. In sunny weather, you can use the mobile 4G Internet, but in the rain, the network completely disappears.
The final was a school in the village of Zardaly in Batken oblast, which is located in a remote area and is not connected to electricity. Only on foot, the ISOC team walked about 3 hours 12 kilometers along narrow mountain trails. For the students and teachers of the village of Zardaly to use the Ilimbox device, electricity was required, for this, a solar panel, a battery, and a charge controller were purchased. The equipment was transported on donkeys. In some places, the equipment was carried by hand. Until they finally reached the village of Zardaly. The solar panel and Ilimbox were installed at the school, complemented by solar street lights donated by the team to the residents of Zardala. The school has about 11 children, 3 teachers work, including the director.
ISOC Team and Zardaly Villagers Carry Solar Panel Through Narrow Mountain Trails
The ilimbox team will continue their tour of schools with the Kyrgyz language of instruction and will present the ilimbox educational platform to teachers and school administration.
We have already visited several schools, talked to them about the benefits of the ililmbox platform, answered their questions and tried to interest teachers by showing them how to use the application.
In turn, the school administration and teachers showed interest in the project and stated that they would continue to use the application. The students were told that it was a necessary tool at the moment and that it would be received with interest.
We have already visited several schools, talked to them about the benefits of the ililmbox platform, answered their questions and tried to interest teachers by showing them how to use the application.
In turn, the school administration and
They also made suggestions for missing platform features. For example, during registration, a code was sent to a mobile phone number and the registration window would quickly close until then, noting that it was taking longer.
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The Ilimbox Distance Learning Educational Platform for Schoolchildren project is funded by the Democratic Commission’s Small Grants Program of the US Embassy in the Kyrgyz Republic 2020-2021.The Ilimbox project is funded by the Democratic Commission Small Grants Program of the US Embassy in the Kyrgyz Republic.
Educational platform for educators and schoolchildren across Kyrgyzstan schools with localized curated content (website platform, mobile apps, devices in schools), meet local educational standards but enriched with updated knowledge.
We provide children in Kyrgyzstan, their parents, school administrations, teachers, and publishers with access to user friendly, intuitively clear secure educational platforms to be able to obtain distance and online education while being in quarantine, having physical disabilities or constraints:
1) To deploy Moodle open-source solution on ilimbox.kg website and customize it in user-friendly way (mobile);
2) Upload and structure all available learning materials on one platform organized by classes, school curriculum, competencies;
3) Convert all textbooks from pdf to machine-friendly format so that it would be easy to search required text, read it, increase the font of the text, etc.
4) Provide video conferencing tools on the platform.
Ilimbox’s online education platform will help the Ministry of Education in digital transformation of the education system, adaptation of their standards and curriculum, and open new ways for learning and reaching out to school-age children even in remote areas of the country as well as from underserved and vulnerable communities. Migrant parents could watch the progress of their kids and join remotely to classroom events, for example. Ilimbox plans to continue developing by opening platforms to third-party publishers and development partners (US Embassy, WB, ADB, UNDP, UNICEF, independent) who would like to provide additional learning materials for children. Ilimbox will keep its sustainability by keeping fees from new publishers and authors for covering maintenance and R&D costs.
“IlimBox” is a digital library for schools and public libraries, containing Wikipedia in Kyrgyz, Russian and English, the Khan Academy electronic library in English, thousands of video lessons, audio and electronic books. All these digital training materials are available offline, in other words, they do not need access to the Internet. Access to Digital Libraries will be via smartphones, tablets, computers and any other personal devices with Wi-Fi technology.
ISOC-Kyrgyz Chapter had installed fifty devices of Ilimbox in understaffed and under-equipped rural schools in the northern provinces of Kyrgyz Republic. Ilimboxes had been demonstrated in the halls of schools for teachers and students from the 6-10th classes. Public had positively welcomed this initiative and fully supported it in places. Teachers found materials very useful for preparing class materials and assignments, while school children asked to upload additional textbooks and materials that initially were not installed in Orange Pie devices. Based on their user feedback, the team took a pause in Ilimbox distribution for the time of spring recess in schools and had been working with different stakeholders to receive permits for sharing their textbooks and educational materials. The software part had been completely redesigned, user interfaces changed and overall product recognition improved. Starting from the new academic year in September, the team had traveled across the region, made presentations, training sessions, and distributed three fourths of the devices for users. There are about 25 thousand students and teachers who benefited from the installation of fifty devices and the accomplishment of the project.
We provide accessible internet in remote villages in Kyrgyzstan. The project aims to install radio receivers for wireless internet, so residents of remote areas can utilize high-speed internet without effort. We started from Suusamyr, continued to Zardaly and plan to connect the villages of Kyzyl-Oi, Ak-Shyrak and Enilchek by building community Internet networks.
Kyrgyz Republic National Digital Transformation Strategy «Taza Koom», project led by Talant Sultanov.
Aziz Soltobaev and Talant Sultanov are the authors of the Strategy Vision 2040 and the five-year National Sustainable Development Strategy 2018-2023.
Taza Koom uses the power of data industry, technologies, digital infrastructure to improve the life of people. Therefore, it creates new economic opportunities and a stronger society where people, their values, and their capacity are in the center.
Aziz Soltobaev is anexpert promoting tech entrepreneurship, fostering the digital economy, and building country-level capacity (infrastructure, legal framework, community). He has worked as the Policy Adviser to the Office of President, Office of the Prime Minister, as the Vice PM,as the Minister of Education, in the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Office of Mayor. He is also the co-author of Vision of Bishkek city development 2014-2018, co-author of National Digital Transformation Strategy “TazaKoom”, contributor to National Sustainable Development Strategy “Vision 2018-2040”, member of working groups on issues related to Internet, connectivity, and digital entrepreneurship. Aziz holds a BA in Economics from the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek (1999) and is active in the AUCA Alumni Association.
