It’s a cool yet chilly morning in Manyoni district in Tanzania. Students at Solya primary school gather at the assembly point excited to hear about a new project – reading clubs.
Teacher Naomi, who is the coordinator of the reading clubs, introduces the guest and parents who will be reading stories to the students.
A parent, dressed as an old woman, puts on an act as a grandmother. “Story! Story! Story!” she calls out.
“Story come! Let the story come!” the students respond.
The parent then goes on to narrate a story about a rabbit and a tortoise. After 25 minutes of storytelling, the students are asked what they have learnt from the story then proceed to read on their own for one hour.
One of the students, Asha, begins to share with her friends about the book she read. “I was fascinated by the book ‘Jane the Pilot. In this story, I learnt that you can become a teacher or engineer if you believe and work hard towards your dreams as Jane did. She used to see planes flying across the sky and she told her mother that she will one day be a pilot, so that she can also fly. Her mother believed in her and she encouraged her to pursue her dream.”
Reading club is a project implemented by AKU’s Institute for Educational Development, East Africa (IED, EA) in collaboration with President’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG). It started in 2013 in schools in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In 2017, the project was expanded to Dodoma and in the later years to Mtwara, Morogoro and Arusha. As of January 2021, over 61 schools had benefited from this project.
“After seeing how students from the Reading Club schools continued to read and learn at home during the pandemic, IED, EA in collaboration with PO-RALG saw the need to expand the scope of the project in 2021 by adding 3 more regions in the country,” says Lucy Rweyemamu, Senior Manager, AKU Tanzania, “they include Singida, Manyara and Iringa regions. With these, the total number of schools to be reached will be 91 in total.”
This project’s main aim is to instill the habit and culture of reading for leisure among young learners. Researchers believe this will improve critical and innovative thinking among students. IED EA Faculty, Dr Nipael Mrutu emphasized that, “It is in reading that children broaden their horizons in their thinking capacity and they can relate to the stories they read and apply them in their daily lives.”
Schools involved in the project were encouraged to conduct reading clubs at any agreed day every week after the academic timetable has come to an end. To support the initiative, AKU donated 3,100 story books and 410 sports equipment in Singida region.
The parents and teachers appreciated the support that IED, EA continues to provide to schools across the region. “Currently our primary schools have large numbers of students and the available books are not enough, with this donation of books from AKU - IED, EA our children will have enough books to read. We are thankful to the university for their generosity”. Said Lwika Mageni a parent from Solya Primary School.Education Officer Khamisi Milowe said, “The Reading Clubs project enhances the ability for students to read and write especially those in pre-primary schools. Most students in lower primary schools in Tanzania find it difficult to read and write. We believe that this project will aid in providing a solution to this challenge famously known as 3Rs.”
IED,EA intends to continue to provide trainings and awareness to schools on how reading clubs can be a game changer to the student’s critical thinking capacity and academic performance. Several workshops will be held for parents and teachers to share their experiences , challenges and recommendations for the reading clubs. It will also be an opportunity for IED,EA to assess the impact of the clubs in schools. The Institute is also looking forward to introducing the project to 20 more schools in Manyara and Iringa regions.
