Setting up children’s libraries is great

On Wednesday, June 26, two children’s libraries were donated to St Paul Primary School by Read to Learn Foundation in partnership with Belgian-based counterparts Matilda Foundation.

The libraries that were launched by Kampala Capital City Authority are part of at least 20 such facilities that are to be established across Kampala by the end of 2024. Some parents were trained and later hired to build libraries which have different items including books, pencils, small blackboards, and papers, among others.

According to Ms Josephine Nasaazi Mulaata, a KCCA official, they will facilitate the communities to construct the libraries in a move aimed at fighting illiteracy and improving reading skills among ghetto children.

Establishing community libraries for children is a surefire way of improving the reading culture in Uganda. The Bible says to train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.

It is, therefore, a good idea to get children reading by providing such spaces and facilities rather than trying to change them when they are grown and gone. It also lends credence to the project to involve the parents because parental support and permission are needed for such a project to yield tangible fruit. That the parents will be involved in setting up some of the libraries is therefore a plus.

Hopefully, this will get us thinking about setting up and maintaining free quality public playgrounds too. Not just for children but for young people generally.

While shopping malls and mega office buildings (that seem to occupy most would-be public spaces these days) are great for aesthetics, public spaces like playgrounds and youth centres are good too. Most schools no longer have play areas where learners can expend some energy and stress after a long school day.

Instead, after school, they are bundled into school vans and shuttles or private cars onto a traffic jam-laden journey back home. It is an old saying but it’s still true that work without play makes Jack a dull boy. So allow ample free public play and social areas.

Results from the just concluded National Census reveal that of a total population of  45.9 million people, 50.5 percent of the population is aged below 17 years while 22 percent is formed by those aged between 18-30 years, in summary, ours is a young population and therefore it would be prudent that social amenities are tailored to their needs.  Libraries tailor-made for the young are good and so are playgrounds/areas.