Tanzania: Encourage Pupils to Read Good Newspapers

Tanzanians have made significant progress since independence, but the struggle, as they say, continues, for ours is still counted among the world's ten poorest countries.

Many of our people continue to die from easily curable diseases like cholera, and infant deaths are still rife.

While our woes can be linked to bad political leadership and poor governance, there is also the issue of ignorance that impedes people's individual pursuit of better social and material wellbeing.

In the 1970s, Tanzania was hailed as the country with the highest literacy level in sub-Saharan Africa, for over 80 per cent of the adult population could read and write.

Presently, the country's literacy rate has fallen to about 70 per cent, and this is overly optimistic figure for it puts into account all Class 7 'graduates'. Why, recent surveys have shown that a sizeable number of primary school leavers can neither read nor write.

It is no wonder that, despite our population of some 40 million, total daily newspaper readership is hardly 300,000!

This is because we have a poor reading culture - many Tanzanians are so averse to reading they don't even bother to go through a newspaper!

Newspapers are not textbooks, which one can be forgiven for ignoring, since they tend to be too narrow and specialised.

Newspaper editors seek to capture a mass readership, so the content of a good paper is diverse, catering for, literally, everybody. Some even carry special pullouts offering tuition for students preparing for examinations.

Which is to say, reading newspapers is not just about getting news; it is about acquiring a wide range of knowledge offered in simple language that is the hallmark of good journalism.

Pioneered programme

It is heartening, therefore, that the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) has pioneered a programme to enable teachers to use newspapers as teaching aids.

We believe this will make learning more entertaining for the young and, what is more, it is certain to instil the love for reading newspapers that can be a rewarding source of knowledge which is immensely essential in today's global village.

The programme, which has kicked off with 36 primary school teachers from Mkolani, Buhongwa and Sangabuye wards in Mwanza city, should be considered a pilot project.

We expect more teachers countrywide should be trained to adopt the approach.

SNV should look into how it can incorporate editors into this project. We give this proposal because we believe there is a lot more that media houses can do make their products more relevant to the young.

It is a fact that many journalists are so obsessed with merely feeding their readers with 'information'and entertainment that they put little regard to education.

This is reflected in the oft shoddy newspaper language bearing little regard to diction, grammar and punctuation. Yet, the general public, more so the young, see journalists as language role models.

Even some serious adults often underscore their arguments by saying something like: "This is true because I read in such and such a newspaper!"

A pupil is likely to use an expression and if he is faulted, he could as well defend himself by citing his favourite newspaper columnist.

Cartoons, for instance, are very popular with the young, but a critical look at the texts in their 'balloons' will expose the fact that few editors consider them as items worth the attention of the subeditors or even proofreaders. That is most unfortunate!

The idea to use newspapers as a learning resource for Tanzania's young is most welcome, and media houses should encourage it and take it as a challenge to better their performance.