Pupils savour the opportunity of accessing newspapers after the Daily Monitor NiE team unveiled its package during the recent trip to West Nile. Educationists argue that any access to reading material gives a child an invaluable edge in future learning endevours. PHOTO by Steven Tendo.

For millions of Ugandan children going to primary schools and even thousands who attend secondary school especially in the countryside, access to printed reading material remains a significant luxury.
Exams, like the teaching is still done on the blackboard with only the teacher—often occasionally accessing a textbook from which to prepare a lesson. The only encounter some pupils have with printed material is when they are sitting a national examination and this, as statistics show still remains a privilege for the about half a million that persevere to the end. It can oftentimes be an intimidating experience.

A simple, cheap and often ignored tool is a newspaper. It is special if delivered on the same day but does not really matter even if it were a day old for pupils and often their teachers who hardly have access to radio and TV is a dream as a team from the Daily Monitor’s Newspapers in Education team discovered on a recent trip to northern Uganda.
Things did not look so optimistic even as the vehicle turned into the driveway up to Adibu Primary School. For one, the usual ‘welcoming committee’ of pupils and teachers who eagerly approach the Monitor vehicle, knowing full well what tidings have been brought, was absent.
The Newspapers in Education (NiE) team that had gone to Adibu to check on the progress of the pupils was puzzled for a bit. It soon became clear, however, why things were askew.
Mr Jowets Asiyi, who is the Teacher Ambassador in charge of NiE explained that due to the many changes that are affecting many schools around the country, the programme had not kicked off in Adibu as it had in other schools in Arua.
“We did everything,” Mr Asiyi told the team led by Ms Esther Wamweta, the young readers’ coordinator at Monitor Publications. “We registered the reading club and even went as far as incorporating subjects like debating in the NiE programme. It is just that because of the disturbances, there has not been serious implementation.”
So the team asked to meet the pupils. This is when the full force of children’s curiosity and the power of NiE were unleashed. The teachers were witnesses to the unchecked enthusiasm of children when they are given an opportunity to express themselves.Even when it was clear only the 20 pupils who make up the reading club were the only ones required, the numbers kept on increasing fast under the huge leafy tree where the NIE meeting was being held.
It was the newspapers. Once the pupils saw the stacks of newspapers being lifted, their curiosity could not be contained any longer. In a few minutes, the area under the tree was awash in blue uniforms with everyone, even the lower primary section pupils, who learn in their local language Madi and understand precious little what is written in the newspaper had glowing faces as they flipped the pages.
The impact of NiE is not easily observed at a single sitting. As Mr Ahmed Buzu, deputy headmaster at Adraa Primary School says, “We have decided to form a reading club that includes all classes fromP3 to P7.” This is the only way the school knows they will help as many pupils as possible. It is also an example of teachers taking the programme and modifying it to meet the school’s needs.
Newspapers in Education, a programme first introduced in Uganda in its current form by Monitor Publications in 2007, has given organizations that support education initiatives an alternative, especially in far-flung areas where text books are a dime a dozen.
Mr David Wamboka, a World Vision programme manager in Tororo District says NiE is a vital intervention especially in areas like Tororo. His thoughts are echoed by Mr Francis Tumwesiga, who represented the organization at the teacher workshop at Rock Hotel Mr Steven Ssevvume, the programme manager in Offaka Area Development Programme in Nebbi District.
“Your pupils have a great opportunity. By the time you and I went to school, there was no such thing as free newspapers. We did not have even text books in school and we had to learn everything from the teacher,” Mr Tumwesiga remarked.
The almost 90 teachers in Tororo turned up in big numbers especially after they had heard the testimonies of other schools.
The programme became even better when they discovered that on top NiE, their schools would receive complimentary issues of Excel in PLE, an examination readiness guide in Daily Monitor every Tuesday of the week.
Children consistently said they liked the programme because they could learn about events happening far away in Kampala like the many reports about the Kampala Capital City Authority or the closure and reopening of the Mukwano soap factory.
In Aiibu Primary School, the head teacher, Stephen Nguamaonzi and the Teacher Ambassador, Alex Candia told of how they had used interventions like Daily Monitor to lure back pupils to the school. “When I joined two years ago, I found a school almost deserted,” the head teacher narrated. “The surrounding community believed the school was haunted so no one wanted to bring their child. But when we came and showed them that there was nothing to fear, they were easier to lure when we also gave their children newspapers.”