Cultivation and Promotion of a Reading Culture Among Primary School Children in Urban Areas: A Case Study of Schools on Eldoret Municipality

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.