Promoting a Reading Culture
A range of projects were supported by QUEST promote a reading culture amongst children (in particular) and the broader community more generally.
The
Minds Across Africa Schools Club(rpt)
(MAASC) initiative was an action research project based at Makerere University in Uganda and Malawi. Working with both teachers and pupils, reading in English was promoted through the distribution of a series of comic books (and charts) which children were encouraged to read alone and in groups.
Click here
to see examples of the comic books and charts.
MAASC was launched in 1998, and initially operated in 150 under-privileged schools in Kampala. It sought to demonstrate how the learning process can be improved at primary school by encouraging children to read and write on their own. The MAASC
project was based on the following three hypotheses:
(i)
Providing an informal, interactive forum to children will lead them to improve their reading and writing skills;
(ii)
Making available literature, suitable to children will create interest in reading, writing and speaking out and lead to children's enjoyment of the learning process;
(iii)
Conditioned in-put focused on desired values will lead to children's acquisition of life skills.
In order to test out these hypotheses, children's clubs were established in the participating schools. These clubs engaged in several child-led activities such as debates, discussions, exhibitions, and drama. Their underlying purpose was to address barriers and challenges in the children's schooling experiences and educational process.
Four comic book series and five newsletters were provided to the clubs for use by the children. These formed the basis of their club activities. Children were also given opportunities to test themselves, compete against each other, produce their own stories, letters and photographs in order to reinforce their interests.
Click here to read a review of the pilot phase of MAASC.
The Reading Tent Project was based
at
Egerton University, Njoro, Kenya. Launched in January 2000, it aimed to develop and improve good reading habits and skills at 10 primary schools in Kenya with 1500 pupils.
1.
By running its own library: At the project library children were exposed to proper library and information seeking skills. They were assisted to select books, read, solve word problems and have interactive teaching/learning I.T. sessions by project staff.
2.
Classroom reading and IT lessons: Local primary schools were encouraged to set aside specific time (within school hours) for reading. The project supported
this initiative by lending the schools story-books to read during this lesson. On alternate weeks, there were IT sessions, which were run for the schools at the University.
3.
Mobile reading tents: Once in a month, on Saturdays, tents were pitched in one of the participating schools. Between 9.00a.m. and 4.00 p.m. children from the school are able to read the library books, listen to poetry recitals, hear stories being told, play in the IT corner, as well as have fun with face painting, drawing, and educational games. There were also reading competitions with prizes.