reading among children

It is said that when one wants to hide information from an African the best way is to put it in writing and for a nation to be more developed it needs to have a rich reading culture. A society which reads is also usually socially stable. It is unfortunate that Zambia today is recorded to have a poor reading culture in spite of being recorded to have a higher level of the most intelligent people in Africa.

It is sad to note that the reading culture is declining and it is evident enough that there is a gap in the reading culture in Zambia. A research conducted by the Ministry of Education showed that the country’s Education system faces an incredible burden. Although literacy rates for youths have slightly improved in the last 20 years, about 60% women, 76% men 19% primary and 70% for secondary school age children do not attend school.

The percentages are alarming because they only include those who do not go to school and definitely reading is not for them. This can be an indication as to how low the reading culture is in Zambia.

Most of the young people do not like reading for one reason or the other. For one to be found reading especially if that person is a student then it has to be for examination purposes. It is only one out of ten that you can find a person reading other books for educational grounds.

The most lazy people are the young generation especially school going children who tend not to enjoy reading as they prefer to download the school work from the internet. They have become the most culprits.

The coming of technology to Zambia has led to the decline in the reading culture in Zambia. Exposure to internets and television revolution has contributed to the progress of the reading culture in Zambia. People will only read if there is need to do so for example if one is writing an examination or going for interviews.

Nowadays it is rare to find children playing around with books or discussing what they have learnt at school. All they ever do is to play around with video games and engage themselves in viewing movies and listening to music.

Many Zambian adults would today tell you how they enjoyed reading books from libraries and the free books they used to get at school. Books will activate readers mind and make a person more intelligent. Reading literature more often helps one’s mind to be sharp every time as it is said an empty mind is the devil’s workshop. The mind needs to be fed with information every time and this can only be done through reading a variety of books.

It is indeed embarrassing to see that most people fail to follow simple instructions given on a medical prescription not because they do not know how to read but just because they feel lazy to do so. It is the attitude that most people have towards reading that has also contributed to the decline in the reading culture in Zambia. So if the reading culture has to be improved in Zambia then the attitude towards reading has to be dealt with.

People must learn to take keen interest in reading literature such as magazines, newspapers, education books so that they can expand on their knowledge. It is said that knowledge is power and a tool to success; this can only be achieved through reading widely.

It is high time that parents will take full responsibility in ensuring that their children will spend most of their time reading books and make sure that they see which kinds of books are being read by their children.

There are several other reasons that have led to the decline in the reading culture in Zambia apart from a few that has so far been alluded to. But a major concern has also been raised from the members of the public.

There are a number of people that would love to read but with the economic hardships cannot afford to buy the books. In most learning schools you find that the school libraries have no books and to some extent libraries have been turned into classrooms. Only some schools have libraries and even so cannot accommodate all students. Higher learning institution such as the University of Zambia have libraries but with outdated books.

One institution that has contributed to the decline of reading culture in Zambia is the City Councils. Their mission statement is to improve the reading culture in the nation. City Councils are known to be a service to the public. And one of the services is to offer a reading culture in Zambia through the provision of library facilities to the communities. But do these libraries still function or exist?

In the early 60s and late 70s, most of the townships in the country used to have libraries and books where people used to go. Lusaka City Council libraries were conducive for reading up to the late 80s. But before then, one could go into the library for reading, studying and even doing some research.

When we talk of the buildings’, used to have very clean, nice tables, books were properly arranged on good book shelves. Most books were found in them be it for educational, classic, traditional etc.

From what is seen it is right to say that the council have failed to meet the demand of the reading culture in the city and the country at large. The council libraries have very poor infrastructure with poor sanitation as if that is not enough the libraries have no proper books that are needed to meet the demand, hence they have become waiting rooms or rather time wasting place.

One such council libraries is the Matero council library, were the library’s building is very dilapidated left in a situation were you cannot even recognize it as a library unless you are told. There has been little maintenance and care. Also when you enter inside, it has no proper books to be used by different types of students at different levels. This is an indication to the fact that Lusaka on its own has a poor reading culture and mentality.

School going children have got nowhere to study from because even if they go to the library they wont find suitable material for themselves apart from what they already have but then that is not research.

Also the other said thing is that the council’s planning was very poor in the sense that the libraries they used to build was to cater for a small community but now then 3% population increase per year has defeated their plans because the already existing infrastructure for libraries are very small to accommodate the reading community in any given area.

The Matero council library cannot accommodate more than 40 people studying at once, it will be congested and therefore it will be uncomfortable to study in such a place and researching will be difficult as you can not move about any how. The same applies to the big one popularly known as the Lusaka City Library.

It is therefore an appeal to the government and the city council in particular to plan for such facilities because they are of big value to the society and our own citizens. The council should now build more libraries which will accommodate as many people as possible and also improve on the already existing libraries.

The government through the ministry of education can provide the libraries with meaningful materials because a library could be there but without books then it becomes mean less.

A lot have been said but a few has been done, measures have been put in place but nothing positive has come out in order to improve the reading culture. Is the problem with the government or the public, who should improve the reading culture? A question that should be asked to each one of us.

Libraries were there and some still exist but do we have hope that those that have been closed down will be reopened some time in future? According to the LCC, it has no intention of reopening the libraries because they do not have resources to do so.

“It is our mission statement to give services to the public and such services include offering a good reading culture to the entire nation but it is also the responsibility of the public to guard these facilities jealously”.

Indeed most libraries used to have books and the buildings used to look clean, but one will wonder were the books are and who knows what happened to those libraries that existed 40 years ago?. The public must also have the part to answer to such questions.


It has been observed that once people get to the library, they will borrow books and later do not return the books to the library. There are the same people who are to blame for the loss of books in libraries and vandalism as well.

“As the council we can not afford to replace books every time neither can we manage to repair the infrastructure every time it is being vandalized by the members of the public because we have limited resources”.

This is a major set back on the part of the government because it will have the burden of sourcing funds to purchase literature for libraries which might hinder the development of the country


For the libraries that are still operating the council appeals to the donor community to donate some books so that libraries may continue to function and for the members of the public to take care of books and libraries.


The government under the ministry of education some time back had put in place a draft policy that addressed all concerns of revamping the reading culture. The policy had tackled among other issues how the ministry would incorporate reading in the school curricular.

“A lot of activities have been put in place such as Essay writing competitions in schools are conducted countrywide by the Zambia Women Writers Association in conjunction with the American Embassy”.

They have been other interventions put in place by government to boost the reading culture such as the read on course program which runs from grade 3 and to establish more resource centers to promote reading.

Complaints have been aired by the public and efforts have been made by authorities to address such issues. But what is there left to be done if Zambia is to have a reach reading culture?

In as far as we may critise each other, as long as we are not taking any action or taking full responsibility, Zambia will remain having problems with the reading culture and most of all the young will be the most affected because at the end of it all they will be no literature to read.

Indeed the reading culture in Zambia has to be revamped and this can only be done if people change the attitude towards reading and if only libraries can be worked upon because they are really an eyesore!