Book Aid International gives books to more than 50k African primary school children

Book Aid International’s African Story Box programme is set to give 56,000 African primary school children books in their classrooms, with support from the Africa Publishing Innovation Fund and players of the People’s Postcode Lottery.

Each school participating in the programme receives a book box with a curated collection of 200 storybooks and a manual to support teachers in encouraging reading for pleasure.

Half of those books are donated from the UK and are selected to reflect a wide range of stories from around the world. The remaining 100 are locally published and are purchased through a grant provided by Book Aid International.

African Story Box launched in March in Zimbabwe, where Book Aid International is working in close partnership with International Board of Books for Young People (IBBY) Zimbabwe.

IBBY’s chairperson Virginia Phiri said: “The African Story Box project is a brilliant idea. Schools here usually have no libraries and parents are struggling with the cost of living and school fees. They cannot afford to buy books. I know that books are important. There were no children’s books in the Black township where I grew up during the apartheid era, but I borrowed books from my uncle.

“If I had never had access to those books, I would not have become a successful accountant, author, environmentalist and human rights defender. Certainly, books give people the power to change their lives – and this project will help children be well prepared for life as adults.”

Getrude Katena, the headmistress at Selborne Routledge School in Harare, Zimbabwe, added: “With textbooks, you are almost forcing the child to read because they have to do something at the end – probably a comprehension exercise. When it’s a storybook, the child reads the book by themselves because they want to know what happens next. Children will realise it’s not just about reading for comprehension and that there’s more to learn from books.”

So far, 56,000 children in 76 schools will benefit from the project. Last year, Book Aid International funded the purchase of 45,190 locally published books.

The charity’s head of programmes Samantha Thomas-Chuula said: “It’s so important that all children have the chance to develop a love of reading early, so we want children to have access to stories from near and far that ignite their excitement about reading.

“We’ve always funded the purchase of locally published books for exactly that reason, but this is the first time we’ve worked with our partners to carefully curate storybook collections for schools designed to encourage reading for pleasure. We’d like to thank our partners for their input and their creative energy.”