Books are an important source of information and are known to be a great source of history. Without books one can’t be able to tell their history or where they came from. We ought to read a lot so that we keep well-versed all the time.

In view of the fact that we lack books in our school libraries, we need as teachers to encourage students to use the available books however little they are. We occasionally blame the head teachers and the Ministry of Education for failing to supply the schools with books.

Before we do that, we need to prove that we have utilised the little available resources that the schools have. But when inspectors come and find the books as new as they were bought, it will not make any sense to them, yet we always claim there are no books in schools.

 It is in this regard that students of Kagarama decided to write their own story books at school to give others a head start.

The writers’ club comprises of students from various classes, but most of them are from A’ level. The club first wrote a magazine about The Never Again in Rwanda, followed by The Guide, a magazine for the club.

Emmanuel Niyitanga, the editor-in -chief of the two magazines says that they strive through thick and thin to write because it needs a lot of research and time spent at school is limited.

He argues that if they had enough time they would be great writers and scientists at the same time.

"It is so hectic. We have to utilize the little time we have for writing the magazines and the books. Again it requires a lot of research from the internet which we sometimes don’t have access to. Besides, we must run to the laboratory to carry out experiments as usual.” Niyitanga says.

 Besides the magazines, he supervises and encourages students to write short story books about the school and the environment around them.

He says this will encourage students to read what they write, and so they will carry on with writing as part of their culture.

"We have stories to tell, and the best way out of this is to write them down. We want those who will follow in our footsteps to read our stories in order for them to get inspired in writing. If you don’t tell your story it will remain untold.” Cassandra Makiya, a member of the club explained.

The school has students who have love for writing and so they formed a group known as "The Outburst,” which writes articles and displays them at every end of the week.

The school is known to have a majority English speaking group with a few French speaking. This enables most of the students to express themselves confidently and write with ease in English.

Since the school has writers, the best way would be to encourage them as teachers to carry on with the culture of writing. It is through the young generation that society is born.

Then tomorrow we shall have our own books because Chinua Achebe was not just a miracle from heaven but from Nigeria.

The author is a school teacher
shebs10@yahoo.fr