Are Ugandan children not reading enough?

Children reading Toto Magazine during the Silver Jubilee celebrations for St. Anthony's Nursery and Primary School Kitende. Right is Vision Group's Toto magazine editor Jovita Ajuna

It is five minutes past midday and children are about to break off for lunch. A group of visiting inspectors are ushered into a Primary Five classroom at Kibiri Day and Boarding Primary School.

With the ‘morning salutation'  by their teacher, the pupils all respond in affirmative. But, it is already afternoon. Save for the fact that there is a clock in their class, they can hardly tell time.

This partly confirms the finding of the 2016 Uwezo report, with studied the learning competencies of learners in Uganda.

The report, whose finding were released a few months ago, reveals that only three out of 10 pupils in P3-P7 can do Class Two work.

The literacy and numeracy competencies are so low in Uganda's primary schools.

Could it be that children are not reading enough, to improve their learning comprehension levels? This could be the case, since studies show that children who read on their own, improve so much in their literacy and numeracy competencies.

Evidence suggests that children who read for enjoyment every day not only perform better in reading tests than those who don't, but also develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a better understanding of other cultures.

In fact, reading for pleasure is more likely to determine whether a child does well at school than their social or economic background.

The Institute of Education at the London University, showing that, "Children who read for pleasure are likely to do better in Maths and English than those who rarely read in their free time, research suggests."

Reading for pleasure 

The study examined the reading habits of 6,000 children. It indicated reading for pleasure was more important to a child's development than how educated their parents were.

When reading for pleasure, in an ideal situation, children find books of their choice, sit in a comfortable environment, flip through the pages and do not have to even understand the words.

In this ideal world, some read the stories while others look at the pictures on the pages and simply appreciate the make of the book.

Unlike in the Ugandan context, they are not reading because they have examinations but because it is part of the learning process.

"This is what a proper learning process for children should be," according to Cathy Kreutter, the librarian of International School of Uganda. Nevertheless, the reality trails far behind in Uganda.

She says it is quite disappointing that Ugandans love education but many lack a reading culture. The two concepts should be intertwined.

With World Bank studies show that 95% of the world illiterate people living in developing countries of which 50% are in sub Saharan Africa, the importance of this study in the context of Uganda is, therefore, significant.

Reading increases gradually, depending on exposure and background.

What should be done?

Priscilla Nalusiba, in her master's research at Makerere University recommends revisiting schools programmes and teaching if we are to improve the country's reading culture.

He research is titled, "Strategies for the development of a reading culture in Uganda Primary schools…"

She notes that the major reading practices in Universal Primary Schools in Uganda include group reading, teacher-to-child approach, child-to-child approach and individual reading.

Group reading and teacher-to-child reading is the most common in the schools studied.

"This implies that children are not familiar with individual reading thus weakening their reading ability as individuals. However, there are challenges affecting the reading practices in UPE schools.

Most of the reading materials in these schools are textbooks which are mainly procured to support academic achievement of the pupils," she notes.

She also notes that pupils do not have access to reading materials because they lack space or infrastructure (libraries) for storage of the materials.

They also lack professionals who could provide them with reading materials systematically (librarians), this implies that the library services and library staff affect how and when pupils read books.

She notes that, "Inappropriate reading materials discourage pupils from reading.

Reading materials may be inappropriate because the language used is too advanced for the pupils level of proficiency; because the content of the reading materials is not culturally relevant; or because the material is considered to be morally harmful."

She explains that the way in which certain information is presented, in terms of the language and content, usually affects the way in which pupils will perceive that information material.

"Further still, pupils do not read frequently due to the fact that there is no time allocated for reading activities, thus leading to lack of interest in reading. This implies that time is an essential requirement for a reading culture to flourish," she adds.

 She recommends that some of the strategies that can be introduced include introducing educative and interesting non textbook materials, introducing readers clubs, encouraging storytelling, making reading materials locally.

She also recommends a change in timetabling reading and library lessons to have enough time for reading, encouraging early reading lessons and talking offices and compounds.

If efforts are put in place to implement such strategies, there will be a major improvement of the reading culture of pupils in schools in Uganda.

More so, Prof. Abdu Kasozi, a renowned education researcher, also notes that reading should also start with parents, in their homes. He says that we should not only count on schools, for the promotion of the country's reading culture. 

Why parental involvement matters?

Although parents are unaware that it is important and do not know what to do, their involvement has significant impact because even simple interaction while reading a magazine to children affects their early progress in learning.

The earlier the parents participate in this process, the more profound and long lasting the effects of reading become.  

One outstanding hurdle frustrates this practice.

The problem stems from parents who do not encourage free reading among their children because it is not examinable.

Kreutter dispels this thought as reading is examinable since pupils write their exams in English. She says: "If you do not have good vocabulary and cannot write a sentence with a proper structure, how will the examiner understand you?"

Peter Tusubira, a retired secondary schools headteacher, with teaching experience spanning over four decades, says that: "Children who start reading early, are always the best in sciences." Tusubira is a science teacher.

He says that, children be guided to choose from a variety of books. "These include choosing as wide a variety of books as possible. Parents and teachers need to at times guide the children, taking it in turns to read, talking about the book and making sure the child understand what they are reading."

"It is a real shame that parents do not realise that a few minutes of reading with their child each day is one of the best ways they can support their education," Tusubira adds. 

He proposes that parents buy newspapers often, "Since they are cheaper and informative sources of information." Good newspapers go for about sh1,500 to sh2,000 copies on the market. This is the same strategy that is now being applied in schools, even those with textbooks.

New Vision's Newspaper in Education project, where newspapers are used as reading materials in class is a good case in point.

Over years, the NiE project has paid off, and schools using newspapers have gradually improved in their performance.

On average, a Ugandan book costs sh10,000 to sh30, 000 while a collection of stories in an imported book costs sh60,000 to sh80,000.

The education state minister Dr John Muyingo says that the Government has over years been stocking libraries of primary schools and there should be no excuse for children not to read.

"Children should also be allowed to borrow books and read from home during their leisure time. Why lock up books that keep brand new to decades. It means children are not reading, a reason why their grades are not improving," Dr. Muyingo says.

Help your child learn to read

• It is never too early to start reading to your child - even young babies enjoy being read to! Reading aloud prepares your baby's brain for language.

• Reading aloud to your child, talking about the words and pictures, and sharing ideas about the book

• Set example. Children who see adults reading, and enjoying it, are much more likely to want to read themselves

• Inspiring a love of books is one of the best ways to prepare children for a lifetime of learning and enjoyment through reading.

• Making story time part of your daily routine is a great way to make sure that books and reading are a familiar and fun experience for your child.

• A visit to the local library can be a real treat for children - with the reward of borrowing a book at the end of it.

• A bed time story is another way of making children inquisitive and trying to read on their own.

• Before they can read for themselves, encourage your child to ‘read' the pictures in their books by asking simple questions about what they can see.

• After you have read or listened to a story together, try asking your child about what happened.