A popular Rwandan artiste, Joshua Tuyishime Polly, aka Jay Polly, has joined the campaign to advocate for Andika Rwanda initiative.

The rapper, who has a large following among the youths, is using his fame to encourage Rwandans to embrace the culture of reading and writing to fight illiteracy in the country.

During his recent concert at Lycée de Kigali (LDK), the Deux Fois Deux star urged students to take part in the ongoing Andika Rwanda competition.

Andika Rwanda is a national writing competition aimed at promoting the reading and writing culture in the country.

"I’m a writer and an artiste,” Jay Polly said. "I write because I want to change people’s lives through the messages in my songs. You have to write to express yourself; you have to let people know what you think.” 

He believes that with this initiative, the future for writing culture among Rwandans is bright.  

Andika Rwanda was launched last month and it is a joint initiative of the Rwanda Education Board and  the USAID-funded Literacy, Language, and Learning (L3) Initiative.  

Primary and secondary students in public and private schools as well as adults are eligible to participate. Tablets and books are among the prizes to be won. 

The published volumes of winning stories and poems will be distributed in schools across the country to provide children access to interesting, locally-authored stories and poems.

The deadline for applications is May 9.