Monitor, Interaid seal partnership to promote literacy among children
Interaid Uganda’s Scholastica Nasinyama (L) and Charity Byarugaba (R) after signing the MoU at Interaid offices yesterday. PHOTO BY STEPHEN WANDERA.
What you need to know:
The partnership is aimed at promoting literacy among refugee children as well as Ugandan nationals by providing newspapers to the disadvantaged communities.
KAMPALA
Over 30,000 pupils in government aided schools are to get free copies of the Daily Monitor in the next 12 months. This move is aimed at improving children’s reading culture. This was revealed at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Interaid Uganda and Monitor Publications Ltd (MPL) officials.
“I am very happy that we are linking to the refugee child. This partnership will go a long way to ensure that these disadvantaged children get knowledge through Newspapers in Education (NiE),” MPL’s print marketing manager Charity Byarugaba noted.
Speaking during the signing ceremony for the partnership, Ms Byarugaba, added: “The Daily Monitor has over the years been the pioneer and continues aggressively to support NiE which appeals to many organisations like Interaid Uganda, an NGO that advocates for the rights of disadvantaged persons especially refugees.”
Noting that NiE offers a variety of information to young readers ranging from personal care, networking, financial management, and safe living. “It is our company’s responsibility to cultivate new readers.” she said.
Interaid Uganda executive director, Scholastica Nasinyama acknowledged that the partnership will improve the reading and writing of pupils in schools. “Teachers have been relying only on texts books and a few who can afford the Daily Monitor newspaper but now accessiblity will be very easy,” she said.
Ms Nasinyama said the sponsorship targets refugee children in Kampala although locals will also benefit. “We have been sponsoring pupils in 25 schools but now Interaid Uganda has increased to cover 33 schools. The smallest school has 800 pupils but there are schools like St Peters’ Nsambya that have over 3000 children,” she added.
A recent report by an NGO, UWEZO, Swahili word for capability, that promotes quality education of children, indicates that UPE pupils in primary six cannot comprehend Primary Three work.
