Children learn better with newspapers – Gulu head teacher
Newspapers also serve as references, helping to teach learners about current affairs such as elections and disease outbreaks like the Ebola virus.
Engrossed in the Newspapers in Education story. (Credit: Ritah Mukasa)
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Last year (2025), Denis Edoku was transferred to Awach Central Primary, where he currently serves as head teacher. However, before he joined this school located in Awach Town Council, Gulu district, he was green about the benefits of using newspapers as teaching and learning aids.
From experience, he says; “None of the schools I served in before used newspapers. Teaching was difficult.” Edoku adds that some learning areas require real-life or visual examples and illustrations. For example, if you are teaching about the press or mass media. You have to show children what the press is. If possible, take them to the publication's offices so they can see how newspapers are made; if you don’t have the resources, you can show them newspapers.
That’s not all. Newspapers also serve as references, helping to teach learners about current affairs such as elections and disease outbreaks like the Ebola virus. Then also, Primary Six and Seven use PASS PLE for individual revision and group discussions.
Scovia Akwero distributes newspapers to ensure they are put to good use. (Photo by Ritah Mukasa)
Meanwhile, the school has two patrons who are in charge of the newspapers. They receive 25 copies every week and ensure they are distributed fairly and put to good use.
Scovia Akwero, the assistant patron, strongly believes that once handled well, newspapers are reliable teaching and learning aids. She remembers an incident when she was teaching a topic on breastfeeding but lacked an illustration. She searched the newspapers and found a nice picture of a mother breastfeeding her baby. The picture excited the learners.
In the lower classes, she says, children enjoy reading about other children in Toto magazine, which in the end, improves their reading skills.
About the NiE Programme
Every week, Awach Central Primary School receives 25 copies of Weekend Vision and Toto Magazine under the Newspapers in Education (NiE) programme, which is being funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) through Save the Children, an organization that saves and cares for children around the world. NORAD is implementing a five-year programme from 2024 to 2028 called “Transforming the Future-For and with Children” in Acholi and Karamoja regions. The program aims to ensure that all children enjoy their rights to survival, protection, development and participation in a safe, inclusive, accountable and resilient environment.
