The US Ambassador to Uganda, Ms Natalie Brown has rallied communities to support children’s reading culture, saying it is a key ingredient in shaping productive citizens in the country. She made these remarks during her visit to Buloba Primary School in Wakiso district on Tuesday.
“Drop everything and read. The US government and our partners are passionate about ensuring that children not only learn to read, but they develop their reading skills to a level where they can read to learn to become resilient and productive citizens. This begins with home and communities,” she said.
Describing herself as an ardent reader due to her background, Ms Natalie said a generation that’s brought up with a strong reading culture gets a foundation of inquisitive and industrious children.
She then urged parents and communities to help children build by offering social support and creating a safe learning environment.
“Evidence shows that when children acquire reading skills early in primary school, their chances of succeeding over their life span improve (and) this helps in long term academic performance, which in turn contributes to national development,” Ms Natalie said.
According to Ms Natalie, USAID has offered support to the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) to provide classes between Primary One and Primary Four with appropriate, engaging and effective reading materials.
Earlier on, the ambassador interacted with children and read together with them in small groups on mats under trees, after which she donated books to the pupils.
According to State Minister for Primary Education, Dr Joyce Kaducu, the reading culture among Ugandans has remained poor due to limited availability of non-teaching reading resources.
“The majority of reading materials and resources in schools are textbooks which primarily promote students’ academic achievement, rather than non-textbooks which are engaging,” Dr Kaducu said in her speech read by the director of Basic Education, Mr Ismail Mulindwa.
The host head Teacher of Buloba Primary School, Mr Henry Ddumba lauded USAID’s intervention because “without reading, there cannot be transformation and progressiveness.”
USAID and the government are jointly running a five-year programme -Integrated Child and Youth Development (ICYD) to strengthen government systems and improve the government’s ability to deliver basic education and services to children and youth, including orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), in 50 districts across Uganda, with so far 38 covered.
The programme intends to improve early grade reading outcomes for at least 2.5 million Primary school pupils through materials enhancement, teacher development and support, and community engagement.
USAID has also since the inception of this project procured 850,000 teacher guides and pupil books in three local languages of Luganda, Lunyoro/Rutooro and Runtyankore Rukiga.