The government has received praise for its efforts to promote a reading culture among school children and the general public. One of the measures taken by the government is the distribution of children’s story books in primary schools, with the aim of eradicating illiteracy within communities.
During the Literacy Week event at Mkuranga Primary School in Mkuranga district, Ms. Agripina Kadama, the Room to Read Programme Operations Manager for Kibaha Community Based office, commended the government’s initiatives. She emphasized the importance of establishing libraries in all primary schools so that books can be easily accessed and borrowed by children, supporting the government’s efforts.
Room to Read, in collaboration with Mkuranga District Council, is implementing the Literacy Project in 35 primary schools. The project provides professional assistance to teachers on facilitating life skills and financial education in 19 schools. It has also conducted training sessions on reading and writing for 113 teachers, library supervision for 95 teachers, and running library sessions for 252 teachers. Additionally, a total of 7,906 books on reading and writing have been distributed to standard one pupils, along with 57,319 children’s story books and 242 guidelines on Library Management.
Representing the District Executive Director (DED), Regina Masyole, the Mkuranga District Adult Officer, reiterated the government’s commitment to working with various stakeholders to eliminate illiteracy. The government aims to create a favourable environment for education in schools and support education stakeholders in achieving their objectives of improving educational standards.
The theme for this year’s Literacy Week celebrations was “Promoting literacy for a world in transition: Building the foundation for sustainable and peaceful societies.”
