Ugandan children treasure
New Reader Scriptures

by Larry Jerden, freelance photojournalist

A happy young student from the Kalambi Girls’ Junior School proudly displays her New Reader Scripture Portions. Kampala, Uganda. Photo: UBS/Larry Jerden (UGA02DJ-120.JPG)

KAMPALA, Uganda — In some countries soft-cover booklets like Bible Society New Reader Portions (NRPs) are seen as little more than ‘throw away’ items to be read once or twice and then discarded. But in Uganda, children who receive NRPs treasure them, covering them in protective plastic and reading them time and again.

“Most students in Uganda don’t have their own textbooks,” explains Ezra Ndagije, Marketing and Program Manager for the Bible Society of Uganda, “so when they get a NRP they lovingly cover it and take it with them everywhere they go because it is the only book they own. Sometimes we return to a school that we last visited some years ago, and we see students still carrying and using the Scriptures we distributed all that time ago.”

One of the schools which the Society has visited is Kalambi Girls’ Junior School outside Kampala. Headmistress Vilona Kivunto says that books are a precious resource in Uganda, with only a few families able to afford to buy them.

“We have books here for the children to use while in class, but unfortunately we cannot lend them out,” she laments.

She was pleased at the Bible Society’s visit, which would allow some of the children to buy NRPs at a low price.

Students from the Kalambi Girls’ Junior School eagerly examine their New Reader Scripture Portions after a team from the Bible Society of Uganda visited their school. Kampala, Uganda. Photo: UBS/Larry Jerden (UGA02DJ-122.JPG)

“Some of the children cannot afford to buy them,” she admits, “but those who do buy them will share with the others once they have read them. I will also ask them to bring their books back so that I can make sure that they have all understood what they have read. These books will really help with their reading and help them to grow spiritually. We teach religion as part of the syllabus, covering all religions.”

Despite the fact that schools in Uganda have replaced ‘Christian Education’ with a more general ‘Religious Education’ (RE) as part of the syllabus, the Christian emphasis remains. When they gather to sing, for instance, they sing Christian songs led by Christian teachers. There is also no barrier to Bible distribution in the schools.

Strong emphasis

A visit to the Buloba Demonstration School, also outside Kampala, reveals a strong Christian emphasis among its more than 1,000 students. Founded by Anglican missionaries in 1932, the sprawling campus still has signs like one on the eave of a building: ‘The Fear of God is the Beginning of Wisdom’.

In fact, the founder of the East Africa Revival Movement, the late Mr Simeon Nsibambi, started the primary school, the teacher’s training college, and the secondary school. His son, Apollo Nsibambi, is the present prime minister, and lives in the Buloba area.

Accomplishment

Children at the school read and learn about the Bible – a significant accomplishment in a country where the official literacy rate is about 62 per cent, dropping to less than 40 per cent in some rural areas.

English teacher Rebecca Namubim praises the New Reader Scripture Portions, noting that they are used both at home and in the classes at the Buloba Demonstration School where she teaches. Kampala, Uganda. Photo: UBS/Larry Jerden (UGA02DJ-129.JPG)

“These Portions will improve the children’s reading skills,” says Rebecca Namubim, who teaches English in the lower primary school. “They are especially good because they are in Uganda English, which the children can easily relate to. The pictures in the books also help them to understand the meaning, which reinforces the process of learning to read the text.”

Comprehension

Tom Mwima, who teaches RE, has also found the Bible Society’s NRPs useful.
“We use them in the first and second year classes in the primary school, and then we build on that knowledge,” he explains. “By the time the students are in the sixth and seventh years of primary school they have read the whole Bible and can interpret it. And their comprehension is at a high level.”

One incentive for such intense learning is that passing religious education is required for graduation.

“In the old curriculum, RE just counted for 20 per cent of the grade, so if you did poorly in it, but did well in other areas, that was OK,” Mr Mwima explains. “Now you have to have a grade of at least 70 per cent in RE in order to receive your diploma.