It is often said that “If children do not enjoy reading when they are young, then they are unlikely to do so when they get older.”
This was emphasized during the International Literacy day which took place on the 8th of September, as Rwanda joined the rest of the world to observe the day aiming to reflect and address literacy challenges.
The celebrations that attracted over 200 participants including government officials in the education sector, literacy-related civil society organizations and students from different schools, coincided with the awarding ceremony of the 24 Andika Rwanda national level winners. The story and poetry writing competition attracted over 80,000 entries from all over the country, including 2 entries from students with a visual impairment from the School of the Blind in Nyaruguru District. Through their stories and poems, contestants wrote about different subjects not limited to the importance of a teacher, my country, a good flower, my mother, among so many topics. The winners were given different assorted awards including; tablets, USAID branded school bags and scholastic materials.
During the event, a read-aloud exercise was done by the Minister of State in charge of Primary and Secondary Education Dr. Isaac Munyakazi together with the US Embassy in Rwanda Mission Director Leslie Marbury, which was meant to inspire parents to practice the culture of reading storybooks for their children as an approach of enticing them to read books, which increases their vocabulary, thinking capacity and hones their writing skills.
Andika Rwanda is a project that Rwanda implements with the support of USAID Soma Umenye, with an aim to increase children’s access to Kinyarwanda stories and poems; and to promote the culture of reading and writing across Rwanda by unleashing the collective creative writing power of children, adolescents’ teachers, parents, and the public.
Winners of the Andika Rwanda competition attested to the fact that they didn’t know they could write winning stories or poems and pledged to continue reading and writing and encouraging their peers to do so. Parents also vowed to start reading for their children, not only to harness their writing abilities but also to promote their brain development and imagination and teach them about their language.
At Never Again Rwanda we believe in empowering Communities for Peace and Social Justice through various social, economic and psychological aspects in order to build to a society that enjoys sustainable peace, development, and social justice.