NMG and Geminia partner in literacy improvement program

What you need to know:

  • Provision of newspapers to learners in primary schools is expected to significantly improve education.
  • A total of 155 schools currently participate in the program.

The Nation Media Group and Geminia Insurance Company have signed a Sh5 million partnership to boost literacy in primary schools through the Newspapers in Education (NiE) project.

The agreement was signed on Tuesday between NMG acting Chief Executive Officer Stephen Gitagama and Geminia Managing Director Ben Ndegwa at Nation Centre in Nairobi.

Also present was Mr Tom Mshindi, NMG Editor-in-Chief.

IMPROVE EDUCATION

The provision of newspapers to learners in primary schools is expected to significantly improve education, Mr Gitagama said.

He added that project is expected to bring on board more schools countrywide in the future.

“We appeal to other partners, individuals and corporates to extend their support to reach to more students across the country,” Mr Gitagama said.

Through the project, the Daily Nation and Taifa Leo newspapers are used as teaching aids in primary schools.

Also to be incorporated is the NiE portal is a digital version of the newspapers which will host interactive content including videos, teacher’s resources and sponsor registration modules as well as project updates.

Generation 3 programme of NTV will also be aligned into the project to enhance education and literacy agendas in young learners curriculum

“The portal will also provide the possibility of enrolment as individuals or cooperate sponsor to enable the registration of those willing to help,” Mr Mshindi said.

Mr Ndegwa stated their contribution is part of the company’s corporate social responsibility.

It is also intended to inculcate a reading culture early in the primary school pupils.

“We also want to improve insurance penetration in schools as it will help in their economic activities later in life,” Mr Ndegwa said.

Under the programme, copies of the two leading newspapers are provided to schools as tools to train teachers on how to use them to enhance school curriculum.

The project has been rolled out in schools in Kilifi, Taita-Taveta, Samburu, Isiolo, Tana River, Meru, Embu and parts of Nairobi.

Other schools are in Western Kenya.

A number of top performing schools in the 2017 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education are on board the NiE program.

NMGs statistics show that 155 schools currently participate in the programme and 325 newspaper copies are distributed, translating to 118,000 copies daily.

In each school, 400 learners are beneficiaries resulting to a total of 62,000 pupils a week.