NGO promotes reading culture
Education authorities have commended the McGovern-Dole Food for Education Programme for improving reading culture among primary school learners in the country.
Under the programme implemented by Nascent Solutions in six districts in the country, learners read texts or passages to master word pronunciation, among others.
Last week, Nascent Solutions conducted reading competitions in Mulanje, Thyolo and Chiradzulu districts to assess the project’s impact.
In an interview on Thursday, Mulanje district director of education, youth and sports Enock Chumachawo said the project has the potential to improve reading culture among learners.
“As a district, we have a long way to go to put ourselves on the map, but we feel that the project is assisting us and we have interest to improve the literacy levels,” he said.
On his part, Thyolo district principal education officer Wallace Hastings Govati said the project is important as it targets developing a reading culture.
Nascent Solutions chief of party Robert Chizimba said the project’s main goal is to improve literacy and education as well as promote health and dietary practices among primary school learners.
He said: “When we started the programme in 2019, the enrolment in the targeted districts was 54 000, but now it has jumped to 80 000 learners.
“The key indicator is the percentage of learners who are able to read and understand the text at that particular class.”
The five-year project is being implemented in Mulanje, Thyolo, Chiradzulu, Ntcheu, Lilongwe and Kasungu districts with funding from the United States Department of Agriculture.
