Pass the PLE...

In 2005, Kate Parry did an analysis of all the books borrowed to date from the Kitengesa Community Library. There was plenty of activity, and people of many kinds were borrowing books, but there was one worrying feature: very few children were included. So the librarians, with help from friends in Kampala, organized a Children’s Reading Tent. Books were put on display, local dignitaries were invited, and a lot of speeches were made. More to the point, children from six different primary schools were invited with their teachers, and when the speeches were over, they spent the day reading, drawing, and otherwise engaged in activities to do with books. Since then, the Kitengesa Library has held a Children’s Day about once a month. A single primary school is invited each time to send a class with a teacher, and, as at the Reading Tent, the children read, draw, paint, play games, and have stories read to them. In this picture, the children are playing a game called “Pass the PLE (Primary Leaving Exam),” made by a company –Mango Tree Educational Enterprises (http://www.mangotreeuganda.org/) – that specializes in simple and inexpensive educational materials for Ugandan schools.