Over 100,000 books were last Friday given out to Teacher Training Colleagues (TTC`s) at an event that took place at Rwanda’s College of Education. The books were handed to over to thirteen principals by officials of the USAID-funded Literacy, Language, and Learning (L3) Initiative.This is in line with boosting the government efforts in promoting the culture of reading. These books were donated through the International Book Bank (IBB). They include children’s story books, reference books for teachers, novels and nonfiction books for recreational reading.During the event, representatives of key parties involved discussed and shared information on the need and solutions to improving the culture of reading. The project is a component of the national Rwanda Reads Initiative."The College of Education is committed to promoting reading in order to improve the quality of education,” said Dr. Faustin Habineza, head of Primary Education and TTC coordinator at the College of Education.Principals were urged to make good use of the books which are said to be in line with a new curriculum that includes a newly-developed course on language methods.   TTC tutors are expected to use the new story books to model effective use of stories in the classroom for TTC students, who will practice this during their student-teaching at primary schools.     Reference and recreational reading books are also said to be important not only for TTC students but also tutors too.Jean Pierre Mugiraneza, an assistant lecturer at College of Education said that lack of reading materials and a reading culture is a major challenge in Rwandan schools. "It is clear that this new shipment will provide a solution to the challenges in promoting reading,” Mugiraneza said.   The L3 Initiative is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the foreign assistance agency of the United States government.

It is implemented by Education Development Center (EDC) in partnership with the Rwanda Education Board and the University of Rwanda’s College of Education with assistance from Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO), Concern Worldwide, International Education Exchange, the Peace Corps, and Never Again Rwanda.