Make interesting literature readily available to promote literacy

One of the global crises today is the decline in the desire to read for pleasure or interest, especially among young people. Most young people globally do not choose reading (especially printed books) as their pleasurable engagement. Instead, they read when it is a requirement at school, or when something is particularly interesting to them.

This should raise an alarm for the relevant government departments to promote reading for pleasure among young people, given its advantages in their personal development as well as the ripple effect of a reading population. Among these measures is making interesting literature readily available.

I recall visiting a few public libraries in Tanzania with the intention of exploring some new books to read, but I ended up going back to my laptop to browse the internet as I did not find interesting books. Most of the books were old and foreign and I even wondered why some titles are kept in our public libraries.

In my evaluation, most books appeared to be donations which no one can spend their money to buy out of interest. To have a better collection of books in our libraries, the government needs to consult writers in the country and known book enthusiasts.

Libraries are not meant to be places of excursion for students when they do not serve their primary purpose of making good books available to the people. Also, we have very few libraries. We come to know that we have very few libraries when we travel abroad and see what other countries do in promoting literacy.

According to data published by the Tanzania Library Services Board (TLBS), Tanzania has only two ward libraries – Mbweera in Moshi and Rulenge in Ngara. There are 19 district libraries – Bagamoyo, Biharamulo, Chunya, Ilala, Kilosa, Kongwa, Kwimba, Lupembe, Lushoto, Makete, Masasi, Mbozi, Mufindi, Ngara, Pangani, Tunduma, Rombo and Ruangwa.

The country has 22 regional libraries, namely the National Central Library in Dar es Salaam and facilities in Arusha, Dodoma, Iringa, Kagera, Katavi, Kibaha, Kigoma, Kilimanjaro, Lindi, Mara, Mbeya, Morogoro, Mtwara, Mwanza, Njombe, Rukwa, Ruvuma, Shinyanga, Singida, Tabora and Tanga.

In total, we have 43 public libraries across the country to cater for tens of millions of people. Those responsible need to do something to improve our libraries and establish new ones. If I compare Tanzania with the Philippines, where I currently live, both countries are classified as lower middle-income countries. However, the Philippines has taken a huge step ahead in promoting a reading culture. There are 1,686 public libraries here, with almost half of those being at the Barangay level, which is similar to ward status in Tanzania.

If we really care about promoting literacy we need to have our priorities right. What matters is not the structures, offices, titles, protocols, procedures, etc. It is the purpose of those establishments to extend the expected service to the people, and to improve the existing conditions every time.

The National Library here in the Philippines promotes readership by using social media, following young people where they are. They have accounts on all social media platforms and organise programmes that draw the interest of all people to engage with literature.

Their Facebook page, for example, has 65k followers. In contrast, Tanzania’s National Library has no Facebook page, although it has an account which was last updated in 2022. We need to address the gaps that make our reading for pleasure levels go down and down. Unless people are informed regularly about the interesting things in our public libraries, which happen to be maintained through taxpayers’ money, the goals will forever be defeated.

Another problem is that there are many schools with no libraries or good book collections except a few for class instructions. We really need to go beyond this reality, especially considering that some of those schools are as old as the nation itself or even older.

How can our young people succeed amidst the international competitiveness with their global peers while they are not prepared well? Will our 18-year-olds, for instance, have the same level of knowledge as their global peers when they have never read even one book for pleasure or interest? Will they keep at pace with modern times and modalities of learning and exploring the world if they are not exposed to global literature and current publications?

We need to not only avail books, but also to maximise the available technology for improving literacy and reading in our country. Inasmuch as a good cause is propagated from above, interested stakeholders can join hands to make the dream come true.

The government may consider availing current newspapers to schools for pleasure reading, since they are more available than books, and the logistics thereof can be sorted out more easily. We need fresh approaches to bring interesting literature near young people.