Today, we are in a global age and the world has become a global village as a result of expanded technology and other human activities. As global citizens we can foster international cooperation, unite people and make the world a better place to live. One way of achieving this is by awakening a reading culture all over the world. Reading can best be defined as a process of communication through which most formal learning takes place. It involves understanding written language and responding to the author’s message. Therefore when one is reading one is thinking, predicting, questioning, evaluating and defining and redefining at the same time. What one reads is not like what one hears or sees.
It has become apparent that there is a lack of reading culture in Kenyan schools because it has been observed that Kenyan culture encourages people to spend leisure time in sporting activities, recreational places (bars, hotels), churches and mosques. The youth on the other hand spend most of their time on social media, playing video games and discussing European football. Kenya is one of the countries with the most educated citizens in east and central Africa. Most Kenyans are in fact literate but unfortunately lack a strong and consistent reading culture unlike the case with most developed western countries. Secondary school teachers in Kenya have seen their students slowly lose interest in reading, they only read their books and class notes moments before their exams. Some students even see English in the classroom as a means to an end. It is commonly said that if you want to hide anything from a Kenyan, hide it in a book. This lack of interest in reading will see our academic institutions produce people who are functionally illiterate even at degree level because most students get interested in academic learning and are not bothered to learn what is outside their course.
Reading Culture in Kenya – Contributing Factors
Poverty levels and hardship in the rural areas are the key impediments that keep children away from school. Although there is rural electrification programme in Kenya, most rural and slum children use Kerosene when reading. Some people claim they cannot read because they can’t afford to buy books. Cultural beliefs indicate that girls are more useful to the society when they are doing specific duties such as fetching water and firewood. Young boys on the other hand learn to herd animals and education becomes a secondary consideration mainly in pastoral areas. It is also believed that Africans developed a highly effective oral tradition and over-reliance on the spoken word therefore they commit all important matters to memory.”
The current Kenyan academic curriculum is considered as a hindrance in the promotion of a reading culture. The system over emphasizes examination and grades right from primary schools to the university. The high number of examinable subjects at both secondary and primary school level give a lot of pressure to our children and leave them no room for leisure reading. Parents also contribute a lot to this behaviour because parents who dislike reading cannot buy books for their kids to read when they are glued to the computer and television screens. Besides being too lazy to read, Kenyans are busy looking for money.
Promoting a reading Culture
Reading culture is an activity that is meant to popularize reading to the general public and make it a lifelong hobby. It however needs concerted efforts because it has to be initiated with the involvement of publishing industries that should identify and engage cadres of appropriate writers to produce their work in a pleasing form to meet the taste of the end users. There should be adequate distribution network which may include bookstores, libraries and newspaper deliveries. It’s important for communities to aspire to a more proactive reading culture so that the younger generation will become more inquisitive and aware of the world around them as well as appreciating the work of literature. Parents should lead by example and recommit themselves to providing an environment in which reading is encouraged and appreciated.
Teachers need to learn how to communicate their passion for reading and sustain meaningful conversations about their textbooks in their classrooms. A lot need to be done but, at the end of the day, everyone should take responsibility in order to achieve the common goal. In a time where social media, internet and television are a priority, turning off the television periodically by parents may just be a must. New approaches should be developed in consultation with publishers and authors to face the challenges of gathering new information and branding strategies applied across all professions. They have to attend tutorials, seminars and sometimes short term courses in branding and communications to remain relevant. Kenya would be a great country if citizens read as much as they discusse politics or the English Premier League.
Negativity
A huge group of illiterate population can pose a serious problem in a country as it is commonly said ‘little knowledge is dangerous’. The negative trend can lead to a split in the society between those who have access to information and those who don’t. This may result in elite class formation regarded as custodians of knowledge and ideas who in turn abuse the privilege and patronize the less fortunate. The people’s ability to make informed decisions is interfered with, for instance a voter cannot make a carefully considered political choice if he/she does not have free access to information. There is a case where a section of members of a community declined to read a draft of the constitution of Kenya because their political leader read and found it was bad. All community members rejected it to a man and voted against it. The community also voted overwhelmingly in support of the 2010 draft because the same leader read and told them it was alright. A lot of work in research and cultural heritage will be lost without the written word. Every Sunday church congregations sit back and wait for the pastor to read the Bible for them as if it was an alien book from another planet. Any time a speaker makes references to ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’, Shakespeare’s Julius Ceaser or even our own ‘Things Fall Apart’ the entire crowd get lost.
Future Trend
In order to develop a reading culture, the following issues ought to be considered both by the government and other stakeholders. Restructuring the education system; the current Kenyan education system should be revised to become both syllabus and student friendly to give room to leisure reading. Constructing school libraries; it is important for the government to develop a policy, which requires all counties and schools to have libraries. If schools have libraries, they can be able to: to give the pupils a wide and easy access of informational material, introduce the pupils to books at a tender age, develop the pupils ability to utilize libraries, reduce the pupil’s dependence on the teacher as the only source of information, enlighten the pupils about the importance of information and easily develop the reading habit.
Conclusions
It is important to encourage a reading habit so that people grow up mentally to be able to fulfill their potential at every level from village to university. The education sector should provide a fairly good information infrastructure, which can form a solid base on which information services can develop. The importance of the information resources is to develop education and also the reading habit. There is need therefore to improve access to books and other sources of information to the various users at the right time and in an appropriate format. The task of promoting a reading culture is not an easy one. All parties in educational and the private sector should coordinate their efforts to achieve this goal. The government of Kenya has no option but to support these efforts because the 2030 millennium development goals cannot be achieved unless Kenyans develop a good reading culture. One of the fifty ways to positively spend time well is by gaining knowledge through reading.
Reading Culture in Kenya
Kenyans lack patience, no wonder the poor reading culture in Kenya!
Kenya is a land of people who are always in a hurry. We rush to do things like there’s no tomorrow. No wonder every average Kenyan is familiar with rush hour! We literally rush to do practically everything. I bet 60 per cent won’t read past this paragraph.
We over sleep, rush to the bathroom, rush to take breakfast, to the bus stop or hop into our cars only to be humbled by traffic jams that move slower than a snail. But that’s not my point. I have an issue with Kenyan readers. We are a lazy lot. We only care about headlines. You have heard people in the matatu request a newspaper vendor to see the headline.
We have no time to read stuff. And it seems this trend will not go away any time soon.
No wonder people just know of somebody called Chinua Achebe but have no idea what his book Arrow of God is all about. They have heard about Ngugi wa Thiong’o but have no idea whether he is a driver, a politician or a preacher. If you have had time to read on and have no idea who Ngugi wa Thiong’o is then today is your lucky day.