Abstract:
The study investigated the efforts being made towards the cultivation and promotion
of a reading culture in primary schools within primary schools in Eldoret
Municipality. The specific objectives of the study were to: determine the extent to
which reading culture was being promoted in the schools; to analyze the strategies
used in promoting a reading culture among primary school children; to establish the
relationship between the educational system/objectives and (post-school) reading
culture; to establish the role played by the Kenya National Library Service (KNLS) in
the development and cultivation of a reading culture; to establish the impediments in
promoting reading and development of a reading culture and finally to suggest and
recommend measures that may be used to promote a reading culture, among primary
school children in the urban areas.
Fifteen primary schools within Eldoret Municipality were sampled for the study.
They comprised five private and ten public primary schools. From each school, the
head teacher and language teacher/school librarian were interviewed using the semi
structured interview schedule. Self-administered questionnaires were used to solicit
for information from pupils in the selected primary schools. Analysis of documentary
sources was also used to provide supplementary information. All the data collected
was analyzed using descriptive statistics and relationships between variables were
discussed.
The study established that most of the schools relied on the library lessons to promote
a reading habit. Furthermore, there were no policies in the Kenyan educational
system that encouraged cultivation and promotion of a reading culture. The reading
habit was therefore promoted in a vacuum. Due to lack of firm government policy,
most schools had no libraries or adequate reading materials.
The study recommends several measures that need to be taken by the Government
and stakeholders in improving the situation. These include, the need to restructure the
current school curriculum to incorporate more reading for leisure; the need to enact a
policy to enable construction of libraries in schools and provision of relevant
resources by qualified librarians; provision of more reading books to pupils and the
need for KNLS to widen its scope in the promotion of reading and development of a
reading culture in primary schools.
