‘Make reading a priority’
Aug 24, 2003
WHEN US First Lady Laura Bush visited Uganda in June, she sat amongst children at the TASO children’s centre in Entebbe and read to them
By John Eremu
WHEN US First Lady Laura Bush visited Uganda in June, she sat amongst children at the TASO children’s centre in Entebbe and read to them. She later donated to them the book entitled Clifford The Big Red Dog. The message she conveyed was the importance of reading.
In the ancient times, parents used to gather their children around the fireplace and tell them stories and heroic deeds. That was the oral tradition. But how many parents read or tell stories to their children today?
The just concluded Pan African Conference on Reading for All has exposed the vulnerability of societies whose members neither document their achievements nor read to update themselves.
The cost of lack of a reading and writing culture has been enormous for the African continent. Africa had some of the best technologies in the ancient times, but these were lost because we relied on the oral tradition and never recorded them anywhere.
Dr. C. E. Onukaogu, the chairman International Development Council - Africa chapter, says lamentations and basking in past glories must now stop.
“We should drop the oral tradition and take to writing if we are to survive in the modern world,†he says.
“The first heart transplant was done in Africa (Egypt) in the ancient times. Benin had the best textile technology in the 15the Century. The Nok (of West Africa) had the best portrait technology in the world in the 6the Century BC. But these technologies were lost because they were not recorded anywhere.
“The knowledge at that time was preserved and transmitted orally which knowledge was lost due to disasters and epidemics.
However, if these ideas were documented, not only would we have preserved them, but we would have also greatly improved on them,†Onukaogu argues.
“One does not need to have a Doctorate of Philosophy (Ph.D) degree in order to write. In the US most of the books are written by diploma and first degree holders,†Onukaogu says.
But Africa has an uphill task of grooming writers to propel the reading culture. The cost of publishing is prohibitive. It costs not less than sh5m in Uganda to publish a manuscript.
Veteran publisher and the conference convener, James Tumusiime, says reading should be inculcated into the children early. How this is possible with a population unwilling to spend on reading materials is another matter. This discourages publishers.
President Yoweri Museveni could not have put it better than he did at the opening of the conference.
He said most parents including literate ones, find time and money for booze but not for reading or buying books.
“I am appealing to this group to spare some money and buy books for their children so that the reading culture is inculcated into the children early,†the President pleaded.
The cost of an illiterate population is high. Museveni said such a population cannot make informed decisions for good governance and democracy, neither can it monitor the implementation of government programmes and guard against corruption.
“When our programmes fail most people blame it on corruption. But literacy empowers people to monitor. So when our programmes fail we should blame illiteracy as well,†Museveni said in a statement read by the Minister for the Presidency, Kirunda Kivejinja.
Dr. Mary Adeola Onyewadume from the University of Botswana says most parents both educated and uneducated have relegated to housemaids, the duty of encouraging their children to read.
She says this calls for the enhancement of the career status of housemaids to take on the new role. At the same time, she says parents should find some time to read with their children.
Onyewadume also says reading in the home should be structured in a conducive environment rather than the current approach where the children read as they watch television or engaged in other activities.
“If it is time for reading, move away from the kitchen or the sitting room into the reading room. The reading should be structured and taken as a serious business and not haphazardly as we have been doing,†she says.
The book industry in Africa is still young, hence the lack of locally produced reading materials. But the continent has had good will of donated books from the West, bringing with it the challenge of what our children should read.
The over 600 delegates at the conference on the theme: Reading Without Borders now want a global policy on book donations to check the dumping of irrelevant and dangerous literature in Africa.
Dr. Winsome Gordon, the assistant director general at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) says the biggest challenge for Africa today is not only learning how to read and write but what people will read, who writes what and what we want our children to read and for what purpose.
Gordon called for legislation against irresponsible authors. She gave a gruesome incident where a young fellow was blown up trying to make a bomb using information downloaded from the internet.
“Legislation and sanctions are indeed required to discourage irresponsible writing. Equally, the reading curriculum must also emphasise personal responsibility for what is read.
“Writers should complement the learning process by promoting and emphasising critical thinking, understanding universal values and their implications for peaceful living,†says Gordon.
WHEN US First Lady Laura Bush visited Uganda in June, she sat amongst children at the TASO children’s centre in Entebbe and read to them. She later donated to them the book entitled Clifford The Big Red Dog. The message she conveyed was the importance of reading.
In the ancient times, parents used to gather their children around the fireplace and tell them stories and heroic deeds. That was the oral tradition. But how many parents read or tell stories to their children today?
The just concluded Pan African Conference on Reading for All has exposed the vulnerability of societies whose members neither document their achievements nor read to update themselves.
The cost of lack of a reading and writing culture has been enormous for the African continent. Africa had some of the best technologies in the ancient times, but these were lost because we relied on the oral tradition and never recorded them anywhere.
Dr. C. E. Onukaogu, the chairman International Development Council - Africa chapter, says lamentations and basking in past glories must now stop.
“We should drop the oral tradition and take to writing if we are to survive in the modern world,†he says.
“The first heart transplant was done in Africa (Egypt) in the ancient times. Benin had the best textile technology in the 15the Century. The Nok (of West Africa) had the best portrait technology in the world in the 6the Century BC. But these technologies were lost because they were not recorded anywhere.
“The knowledge at that time was preserved and transmitted orally which knowledge was lost due to disasters and epidemics.
However, if these ideas were documented, not only would we have preserved them, but we would have also greatly improved on them,†Onukaogu argues.
“One does not need to have a Doctorate of Philosophy (Ph.D) degree in order to write. In the US most of the books are written by diploma and first degree holders,†Onukaogu says.
But Africa has an uphill task of grooming writers to propel the reading culture. The cost of publishing is prohibitive. It costs not less than sh5m in Uganda to publish a manuscript.
Veteran publisher and the conference convener, James Tumusiime, says reading should be inculcated into the children early. How this is possible with a population unwilling to spend on reading materials is another matter. This discourages publishers.
President Yoweri Museveni could not have put it better than he did at the opening of the conference.
He said most parents including literate ones, find time and money for booze but not for reading or buying books.
“I am appealing to this group to spare some money and buy books for their children so that the reading culture is inculcated into the children early,†the President pleaded.
The cost of an illiterate population is high. Museveni said such a population cannot make informed decisions for good governance and democracy, neither can it monitor the implementation of government programmes and guard against corruption.
“When our programmes fail most people blame it on corruption. But literacy empowers people to monitor. So when our programmes fail we should blame illiteracy as well,†Museveni said in a statement read by the Minister for the Presidency, Kirunda Kivejinja.
Dr. Mary Adeola Onyewadume from the University of Botswana says most parents both educated and uneducated have relegated to housemaids, the duty of encouraging their children to read.
She says this calls for the enhancement of the career status of housemaids to take on the new role. At the same time, she says parents should find some time to read with their children.
Onyewadume also says reading in the home should be structured in a conducive environment rather than the current approach where the children read as they watch television or engaged in other activities.
“If it is time for reading, move away from the kitchen or the sitting room into the reading room. The reading should be structured and taken as a serious business and not haphazardly as we have been doing,†she says.
The book industry in Africa is still young, hence the lack of locally produced reading materials. But the continent has had good will of donated books from the West, bringing with it the challenge of what our children should read.
The over 600 delegates at the conference on the theme: Reading Without Borders now want a global policy on book donations to check the dumping of irrelevant and dangerous literature in Africa.
Dr. Winsome Gordon, the assistant director general at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) says the biggest challenge for Africa today is not only learning how to read and write but what people will read, who writes what and what we want our children to read and for what purpose.
Gordon called for legislation against irresponsible authors. She gave a gruesome incident where a young fellow was blown up trying to make a bomb using information downloaded from the internet.
“Legislation and sanctions are indeed required to discourage irresponsible writing. Equally, the reading curriculum must also emphasise personal responsibility for what is read.
“Writers should complement the learning process by promoting and emphasising critical thinking, understanding universal values and their implications for peaceful living,†says Gordon.