Towards a Literate Society the Place of Reading in Rwanda Today
Lack of a reading culture in Rwanda is a widely talked about issue. The government of Rwanda has literary "taken the bull by the horns" in a bid to tame this widespread national malaise. There are a number of efforts ongoing to promote a culture of reading among Rwanda, a society that has hitherto been described as oral. The country's historical disposition has always favoured the spoken word over the written word. Compounded by the traditional and cultural realities, reading has always been kept at the periphery. Inspired by the need for economic development and national stability, Rwanda has put in place a blueprint for promoting literacy skills across the country. Notwithstanding her tumultuous past that culminated with the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, considerable milestones have been achieved in reading. However, there is still more to be done for this to be a reality. This paper argues that Rwanda a monolingual country has the potential to harness Kinyarwanda and transform it into a launching pad for promoting literacy. While acknowledging a myriad challenges that the nation grapples with, the country is in a pole position by taking advantage of technology to digitize reading. Better still teachers are charged with the mandate to explore explicit comprehension techniques to teach reading. Suggestions on the common strategies for teaching comprehension are outlined according to Adler (2001)