Prof Mkenda reveals plans to overhaul libraries services
The minister for Education, Science and Technology, Prof Adolf Mkenda (centre), listens as the founder of Martha Onesmo Community Library, Ms Jennifer Dickson (holding microphones), gives a briefing about the facility during the launch ceremony in Mwanga, Kilimanjaro, on Thursday, January 4.
What you need to know:
- The government plans to spend Sh2 billion to improve public libraries to provide opportunities for students, teachers, and other residents inside and outside the country to access additional knowledge
Mwanga. The minister for Education, Science, and Technology, Prof Adolf Mkenda, yesterday said the government has embarked on a programme to improve library services across the country.
He said the programme was aimed at providing opportunities for students, teachers, and other residents inside and outside the country to access additional knowledge. He was speaking while officiating the launch of a community library, Martha Onesmo Community Library, in Msangeni ward, Mwanga District, Kilimanjaro region.
The library was the brainchild of a young Tanzanian university student studying in Rwanda, Jennifer Dickson. Speaking at the event, Prof Mkenda commended the founder of the project, saying the student’s vision will contribute to the development of many people who will use the facility.
“This library has come at the right time when we are making serious reforms in our education sector with the aim of making it respond to the ever-changing market demand,” he said.
According to him, the library would be used by students, teachers, and other residents in Mwanga to increase their knowledge.
“The government has set aside approximately Sh2 billion to improve our libraries by adding the required resources to the libraries available in the country,” he noted.
He assured the founder that “the government will do everything possible to ensure this library is sustainable.” "Libraries have a unique importance in the development of education, individually and even for the whole country, and we have now decided to ensure that existing libraries are improved throughout the country," he said.
Prof Mkenda affirmed that the availability of libraries in different parts of the country will enable students to gain additional knowledge from the ones they get in class.
On the other hand, Ms Jennifer Dickson, the founder, said she established the library to fulfil her longtime dream to specifically help those in rural areas get library services to increase their knowledge.
“This library, named ‘Martha Onesmo’ to honour my grandmother, is a dream I had since I was in sixth grade; I am happy that that dream has come true," she noted. The University of Dar es Salaam Deputy Vice Chancellor, Prof Bonaventure Rutinwa, said libraries are educational infrastructures that enable people, including young children, to get extra education through reading books.
