Lubuto Library Project

Impact Assessment Results

Library programme teaches vulnerable children to read in local languages

Impact study results: high resolution | low resolution [PDF]

‘There is a big problem with literacy in my school. We have 70 pupils in each class and only 10-15 know how to read… What is needed is to bring these lessons to the children!’ – Betty Chocha, primary school teacher.

Ms Chocha was speaking about Lubuto Library Projects’ computer-based learning exercises which teach vulnerable children how to read and write in mother tongue. School drop-out and illiteracy rates have soared in Zambia in the wake of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and there are thousands of orphans who are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

With EIFL-PLIP support, Lubuto Library Project used the Etoys Open Source Software to develop learning exercises which the children access on One Laptop Per Child computers in Lubuto’s two libraries in Lusaka.

Over 700 lessons have been developed – 100 in each of seven Zambian languages. It is too early yet to assess their impact on the children’s literacy levels, but preliminary testing shows that the children like the lessons, quickly learn to play – and are having fun!

Teachers and students worked together to develop the lessons and to design illustrations.

Moses Zyambo is 16 years old, a Grade 8 student at Jacaranda Basic School in Lusaka. Because of his excellent computer skills, he was one of the three students engaged to design lessons. Moses said he learnt a lot from the project: ‘Working in a team is far better than working alone. In team work one can get advice and learn from asking the other team members,’ he said.

For his work, Moses earned fees to cover five years of schooling, and will be able to complete secondary school. Earning school fees was better than being paid in cash – ‘because cash can be spent on small things,’ he said.

Previous project updates

Lubuto Library Project Case Study, April 2011 [PDF]

Teachers and students work together to create programmes designed to teach reading in local languages

Dancers celebrate second Lubuto Library

Project background

The Lubuto Library Project provides literacy skills, basic education, enrichment programmes and a safe haven for Zambia’s street children, orphans and other vulnerable children by building and stocking beautiful, indigenously‐styled open‐access libraries. Lubuto libraries play an important role by providing vulnerable, out‐of‐school children with a bridge to schools and social services that are beyond their reach. Each library begins with a collection of 4,000 books, selected by expert children’s librarians. Library staff work with the children, reading aloud, telling stories, and mentoring the children in the use of One Laptop Per Child XO computers.

Lubuto’s first library opened in 2007 at a drop‐in centre for street children in Lusaka. It had 10,000 visits in its first year, and this has increased as new programmes have been established. The second Lubuto library, also in Lusaka, is almost ready to open.

The need
The HIV/AIDS epidemic has led to huge increase in the number of orphans and vulnerable children in Zambia. Although primary education is free in Zambia, orphans and other vulnerable children struggle with other barriers: the cost of uniforms and books; money for transport and food; the shame and stigma that is still attached to being an “AIDS orphan”; the need to look after younger siblings. As a result, thousands do not go to school, but find support at places like the Lubuto library.

Extensive research has shown that children should initially learn to read in their mother tongue. There are Zambian local language readers for children, but they are not widely available – even in schools – because of their relatively high cost. There are also not enough teachers trained to use the readers.

Technology
The Lubuto Library Project is using computers provided by the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) programme, and involving youth and experienced Zambian reading teachers to create early reading programmes. The programmes, in the OLPC application Etoys, will be made available on laptops in the libraries and via the Lubuto.org website.

Etoys is a media-rich authoring system that helps children to learn by doing. It is an interactive tool that allows children to explore their ideas by creating models, simulations, and games which they can then share with other Etoy users in real time. Etoys is free and Open Source.

Partners
The project has the support of a number of Zambian and international partners, including: the Zambia Ministry of Education; reading teachers; the University of Zambia; Ngwerere School and the Ngwerere Lubuto Library; the Fountain of Hope Lubuto Library in Kamwala, Lusaka; Mike Lee of Sugar Labs, Washington DC, USA; One Laptop Per Child organization, Boston , MA, USA; Kathleen Harness, EtoysIllinois.org in the Office for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA.

If you want to know more about this project, contact:

Eleni Coromvli
OLPC Zambian Language Literacy Programming/Lubuto Library Project, Inc.
P.O.Box 50548
Ridgeway
Lusaka

Tel: +260 974 041465
e-mail: eleni@lubuto.org

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