How community clubs inculcate reading culture among children

Angelique Nyiramajyambere is illiterate, but her 5-year-old daughter already has basic literacy skills. Nyiramajyambere’s daughter is just in her Primary One. She reads well Kinyarwanda more than many adults. Nyiramajyambere, a 35-year-old woman from Musanze, dropped out of school in Primary One. She regrets her decision to have abandoned school, saying her life wouldn’t have been the same had she studied. “When I want to make a telephone call, I seek help from someone else to compose a number for me. When I receive a short message even if it’s a secret, I must share with someone who reads it for me, I can’t even read the Bible,” she said. A person is literate if they are able to read, write and understand at least one language. Nyiramajyambere feels proud seeing her child read at her tender age, and says she will do everything to support her. Apart from going to school, the child is a member of a reading club in Musanze, where children between the age of two and 12 meet, read books and borrow others with Education Facilitators’ assistance. “I want her to spend as much time as possible with reading materials. At home, I can’t help her as it is required, but when she is in the reading club, I’m sure she’s getting more knowledge,” she said. Uwantege Rutandika, a facilitator at Musanze Reading Club, said even illiterate parents can encourage their children to love reading and education. “Pushing kids to take a book, or to make reading materials available to them is a core contribution any parent, literate or illiterate,” said Uwantege. In reading clubs, facilitators read stories to children and after, children access books and they read on their own, said Uwantege. The activity is under the Mureke Dusome Project, run by Save the Children Rwanda. Alex Alubisia, the project coordinator, said so far over 100 reading clubs have been formed countrywide, with the target to form 900 clubs over the next three years. One million children will be integrated in these clubs from 2,500 public and religious primary schools, he said. “We ask parents to be the agents of reading in their families, they hold the key. It brings positive impacts on children’s minds, they become open,” said Alubisia. Isaac Munyakazi, the state minister for primary and secondary education, said it requires partnership between schools, local authorities and mostly parents to cultivate a reading culture among children. According to World Data Atlas, adult literacy rate of Rwanda increased from 57.9 per cent in 1991 to 71.2 per cent in 2015 growing at an average annual rate of 5.42 per cent. About two million adults in Rwanda are illiterate, 59.1 per cent of them women. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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How community clubs inculcate reading culture among children