County launches programme to promote reading culture in primary schools

Nyeri

Thursday, August 3, 2023

KNA by Wangari Mwangi 

The Nyeri Department of Gender, Youth, Sports and Social Services has launched a book reading programme which is aimed at promoting a reading culture in primary schools.

The programme dubbed 'Books to Go Project ' is targeting schools in the remote areas of the county and will be powered by book donations from Book Aid International (BAI), a book donation charity organization from the United Kingdom, which provides books and supports libraries in Africa and around the world. The initiative will equally be supported by Kenya National Library Services and the Cambridge University Press.

During the launch of the programme at Warazo Jet Primary in Keini sub-county, over 2,000 books from the United Kingdom and bookshelves were donated. BAI, also gave a monetary grant to help in purchase local books and will also be spent on capacity building of teachers on basic Library management and how to promote reading among the young learners.

Speaking during the launch, Social Services director, Monica Thumbi, lauded the sponsors for supporting the initiative. Thumbi underscored the critical role of school libraries in inculcating and nurturing a reading culture at an early age. She said the initiative would help in developing the beneficiaries’ communication skills by increasing their vocabularies, developing grammar and verbal skills at an early age.

“The donation provides the much needed addition to our library collection. The information is also current and informative and I am certain the teachers and students will gain much insight about the various issues and cultures from the local books and from the UK,” she said.

Last month, the department of Gender, Youth, Sports and Social Services took over the management of all libraries in the county with the promise of expanding library services within the county. The County Executive in charge of the Social Services, Esther Ndung’u equally acknowledged the role of libraries in fostering a reading culture and promoting learning. She said that the department would embark on mapping exercise in a bid to align library services to the demands of the digital era and improve service delivery.

“We are visiting the libraries and identifying areas that we can leverage on, especially technology. In today's digital era, libraries provide much-needed access to technology. Public libraries, in particular, offer free internet access, research assistance, e- books, audio books and online databases to bridge the digital divide thus addressing the changing needs of their communities. We are at the same time identifying any challenges that we need to resolve going forward,” said Ndung’u.

Courtesy ; K. N. A