Parents could see a significant reduction in cost of buying books as Worldreader embarks on an initiative to reach one million child readers in Kenya within the next five year.
Through its BookSmart application, the International nonprofit organization has rolled out the Get Kenya Reading Initiative which through partnerships with other organization targets to ensure at least one million children read books on the app for at least 10 minutes a day.
“Statistics say that our children are reading but they also lack comprehension. Our biggest task is to try and see how do we make sure parents can read to their children everyday especially children from 0-5 years and that’s just 10 minutes a day,” said Elizabeth Wasuna, Worldreader Board Chair.
BookSmart which is a free digital reading app has been loaded with at least 2,700 quality books and other learning activities in English and Swahili which are meant to help improve reading and comprehension among young reader.
According to Wasuna, many children in Kenya have not been able to develop their reading skills, a factor exacerbated by cost of books.
“There are many constraints, sometimes its time and cost because we do realize that there are some parents who can afford to buy books, there are some parents who have access to libraries but there are parents who also do not have access and therefore cost is an important piece. The app today provides the parents with an opportunity to download very easily and read to their children. its 10 minutes a day that we ask for,” she stated.
Purity Mugambi is one of the parents who have been utilizing the app to get her child into reading, a move which she says has had positive impact.
“For me it has really saved me a lot of money because you buy a book for the child and even before you get home they want another story. So it has really helped us especially now that it is very affordable and user friendly,” she stated.
Additionally, Worldreader backs the BookSmart app to further help in building bonds between parents and children.
“It’s such a huge opportunity for family time. One of the things that have been lost is a parents and guardians leave home each day, to earn a living; the time together with our children has been eroded. I like this because you can read a book with a child just for 10 minutes and bring back family time,” added Catherine Muraga, Worldreader board member and Microsoft ADC managing director.
Worldreader is now eying various partnerships with both public and private sector in order to reach more children under the Get Kenya Reading Initiative.
