Children are reading more. Newly trained librarians are more able to help children discover books and begin to read. All three libraries have reported that children are reading more in the library and borrowing more books.

“The staff offer direction. They helped me prepare for my interview for my new school by giving me all the books to revise and refer to as I prepared. It was because of them that I got 431 marks out of 500 in the exam I was given in the new school.”
– Kelly, 13 year old Book Haven user

Enriching primary schools

In 2017, we looked at the impact of the first 25 Inspiring Readers Book Box Libraries which opened in Kenya in 2015. We found that having books in classrooms combined with teachers who had the skills to bring those books to life had resulted in two key outcomes:

Improved academic performance. Across the board, teachers noted an improvement in children’s reading fluency and confidence, and this has improved performance in other subjects. Results from Muringato Primary School, shown below, are typical of the changes in pass rates:

New-found confidence. Perhaps even more significantly, children report feeling more confident, more able to take steps towards a brighter future and a new love of books.

“At the beginning, I was given two lower primary books and from then on I have never stopped reading. I was able to convince pupils to give me votes to be the Head Boy because I can now communicate well in English.”
– Joseph, Class 7 School Head Boy, Getembe Primary School, Kenya

Reaching secondary school pupils

Passing exams is critical for young people’s futures and many students use their libraries to revise. But all too often those libraries lack the books students need and librarians do not have the skills to support exam takers.

In 2017, we created 16 Study Hubs in Zambian public libraries and schools where pupils would find revision books, textbooks, a study guide and librarians who had received training in how to guide them. As a result:

Pupils are using their libraries more. Visits to the 16 Study Hubs to utilise the materials have increased from 4,512 to 18,485 a month.

Pupils are approaching exams confidently. Across the board, students reported being able to find what they needed in the donated books and feeling more prepared for their exams.

“The book AQA Maths really helped for the exam. Calculus was not done in class but was in the exam. Because I read it from the book in the Study Hub, I was able to answer the question on the exam.”
– Orance, Year 12 Study Hub user, Zambia