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The teacher would then take us to the school library
where the scholar Leo Garau would post sketches and
pictures for us to see. Abridged and simplified
editions of popular books or short stories like 'The
Three Musketeers, The Prisoner of Zenda and others
were provided to all students on loan. Those were
extra curricular activities that were meant to
broaden the horizon of our knowledge and thinking.
It starts with mothers lulling their babies to bed.
They touch their heads telling them stories and
kissing them good night. Fathers tell their
encounters fireside. When children go to nursery
schools they meet new friends and learn new things
good or bad.
Like a computer, the human brain collects
information, processes it and stores it for later
use. The input data comes from all angles including
books, pictures, films and oral story-telling .
When I was an elementary student at the Tafari
Makonnen School, a certain Mr. Pio, an English
speaking Canadian, used to translate and tell us the
story of 'Aladdin and the Lamp" in Amharic. As first
grade students, we were giggling and repeating him,
knowing well that his Amharic pronunciations were
not exact. We were excited and eager to know the end
of the story, so we started to read publications.
There was also small printed material that carried
the story of "Koozir and Dimbillal" in cartoons like
"Gash Wolde..." in this English weekly.
Mr. Pio would then show us around and teach us about
the environment, trees and shrubs and the Kebena
River and afterwards tell us to write about what we
had seen.
The teacher would then take us to the school library
where the scholar Leo Garau would post sketches and
pictures for us to see. Abridged and simplified
editions of popular books or short stories like 'The
Three Musketeers, The Prisoner of Zenda and others
were provided to all students on loan. Those were
extra curricular activities that were meant to
broaden the horizon of our knowledge and thinking.
Sometimes I ask myself.”What good will it do to
invest billions of dollars on education projects
unless the knowledge acquired through formal
education is sustained by reading and turned to
action?” There is far more to be done beyond
providing textbooks or graduating thousands of young
men and women.
The process of education transcends those momentary
chapters. All the money invested on education cannot
bear fruit until the graduates grow into an informed
society that would translate the accumulated
knowledge into tangible results.
The facts on the ground reveal that expansion of
learning coverage, constructing new schools,
establishing new colleges and universities and
graduating students by investing billions is only
part of the story. There are very few libraries in
the country, books are too expensive or nonexistent
and the bookshops are simple vending kiosks where
old stocks are displayed.
The cost of printing even newspapers and books is
beyond the capacity of the writing society, not to
mention the reading society. Taxation on literary
works is indeed discouraging.
The Writers Association is taking a stride in the
right direction to break the vicious circle of the
lack of readers and the shortage of readable
materials. The task is insurmountable without the
involvement of the Ministry of Education (MoE),
however.
In earlier times, the Ministry used to publish books
by popular authors to be dispatched throughout the
schools in the country. There were a number of
private publishers and bookstores in Addis Abeba
that were publishing and selling books at affordable
prices.
The other day I was talking to a vendor who was
carrying some sport newspapers and a fashion
magazine. He says that the number of readers has
declined over the last two years. According to this
vendor, there are two main reasons attributable to
the declining situations both in terms of the number
of publications and the number of readers.
One explanation is the disappearance of the popular
newspapers from the market. The second reason is the
price hike.
Whether or not the contents of the different papers
were constructive can be debatable. But the fact
that they were popular is beyond any doubt.
The sports weeklies are not thriving either. Not
that they are unreadable, but that they are
unaffordable on the main. Many readers rent them
while others buy them in groups.
The sport paper reading society is fairing well at
answering quizzes on radio shows. The informed or
the well-versed listener answers more questions
while the non-reading society fails to answer even
the simplest question on general knowledge subjects.
Needless to say, the reading culture is undeveloped.
One newscaster recently was having a problem in
reading the name of President Charles De Gaulle
properly. He, like his female colleague in the "steedio",
had wrapped the former president's second name into
an inaudible 'Degoley'! That was a clear indication
of the lack of reading on the part of youngsters
after graduation.
Whenever I hear the figure '80 million' as the total
population of Ethiopia these days, I ask myself
whether that number indicates a liability or an
asset.
How many libraries, bookstores, magazines,
newspapers, books etc. are there for that populace?
These are the types of questions that are
provocative to the parties that are only responsible
in the construction of many more schools, colleges,
universities and graduating more students every
year.
I
recently attended the the University of Awassa's
graduation where Borroo, 24, received a degree in
economics. Dressed in the black graduation gown, the
young man was exuberant during the ceremony. He
hugged me and shook my hands until I felt my
shoulder was tearing down from its joint.
Outside the hall on our way home, his future struck
him in full force and he started walking in
desperation. After running around in search of
employment, Boroo has now settled as a dependant on
his families. He stays idle at home and rarely goes
out only to read advertisements and vacancy
postings.
His solitude and sense of dependency sometimes
brings him a daunting fear and despair for not
knowing what would become of him. Upon advice of
friends and relatives, Borroo has started reading
books and listening to world news. He finds some of
the newly published poetry and prose too obscure and
irrelevant. There are no books that address his
problems and the few books published earlier are
romantic.
Borroo has voluntarily
started to give tutoring lessons to the small
children in his compound. He thought books would
help him. But he could not find books written for
children except those boring textbooks.
Do you read books? |
