PEARSON a renowned publisher from the UK August 11 cerebrated the business partnership with the Ministry of Education and Drakkar Limited in delivery of books to Rwandan schools.
During the event held at Mille Collines Hotel the company’s Sales Manager for African Sarah MC lean said that the cooperation with local authors shows that local writers have potentials to the career.
She observed that they still have a long way to go in terms of skills. However, she said that the East African publisher affiliated to Pearson has been improving their performance by merging them with experienced authors in the region.
“The cooperation is marvelous especially when you read a book titled ‘New Primary English’ co-authored by Emmanuel Murenzi and Uganda’s James Lyagoba. It has been very instrumental especially in teaching English,” said Rosebelle Otieno from East African Publishers.
Despite the progress, a good number of interested Rwandan authors are discouraged by the unstable book market and high cost authors incur when publishing books.
Murenzi, one of the upcoming writers urged publishers to support local novelists particularly talented ones who lack financial means.
The Director General in the ministry of education Erasme Rwanamiza argued that local authors shouldn’t be discouraged to compile their knowledge into writings since there are many ways to disseminate knowledge to the world by the use of new media which consist of websites and social sites.
Locally the poor reading culture on one hand has been a major hindrance as the majority with writing talents do not start at an early stage.
“I have written a chemistry book but its practical part is not widely used since majority of schools lack laboratory equipment. Scientific practicals are essential but I see less efforts being put in place to equip all schools with basic instruments,” Lwishi Kasanyandjo, a science teacher at Kagarama high school lamented.
Pearson has 24 NCDC (National Curriculum Development Center) approved titles on core primary and secondary subjects in Rwanda in addition to 7 supplementary titles approved which include Longman Secondary Atlas for East Africa, the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and the popular English novel titled: “The Liver Between”.
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