Learning continues with Room to Read despite COVID-19
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School holidays are an exciting and relaxing time for all youngsters. While it is time away from school, holidays are also a great way to learn skills and knowledge through activities such as playing outdoors, visiting places etc. However, the recent COVID- 19 pandemic has confined children into their homes, restricting their learning and interaction, making their time at home uninteresting and non-educational. At such times, reading can be a respite and comfort, and serve as one of the most effective methods of learning. Whilst distant learning mechanisms have been established around the world and in Sri Lanka, children in low-income communities will have little to no access to online material and lack guidance on how to use them.
One organization that supports reading development in rural communities in Sri Lanka is Room to Read. Room to Read is a global non-profit organization founded in 2000 with the belief that world change starts with education. It envisions a world in which all children can pursue quality, holistic education that enables them to reach their full potential and contribute to their communities and economies. Room to Read conducts its programs at two critical stages of learning; early primary education for children to develop how to read and write with compression with a habit of reading, and support girls to complete secondary school with the relevant life skills to succeed in school and beyond. In Sri Lanka, Room to Read began its journey in 2005 followed by the devastating Tsunami and have impacted the education of over 01 million children thus far via both programs.
Room to Read’s innovative Reading Development Program ensures that children in primary schools gain reading development holistically, have libraries filled with books in local languages, as well as teachers and librarians who are trained on how to engage a classroom of eager, young learners. By the end of grade 2, children in Room to Read’s Reading Development Program read 2 to 3 times as fast and read with 87% greater comprehension than their peers in non-Room to Read program schools. In Sri Lanka, 51562 primary school children are benefiting through it’s the program, making an impact on 2109 schools across the country.
08 year old Nathara is one of Room to Read’s Reading Development program participants from Polonnaruwa. Although Nathara loved going to school, she never understood why it was so important to read books. Inspired by Room to Read’s library in school, Nathara always dreamt of having one at home, where she can read books whenever she want and share them with her neighbours. With a little bit of help from her father, Nathara found the COVID-19 lockdown the perfect time to build the library. “When Room to Read made my school library, I found a lot of books in Sinhala to read. Reading is my favourite way to spend time. I am so happy to have my own library at home”. Nathara’s enthusiasm and initiative in building a home library exemplifies the sustainability of the organization’s programs and their lasting impact on the program participants.
Beginner readers need books and materials designed for their skill levels. Unfortunately, books for early readers are often limited or nonexistent in disadvantaged communities. Thus, as a children’s book publisher, Room to Read creates books that readers at various levels can enjoy. These books are written and illustrated by local artists that improves local book publishing, while the stories are culturally relevant and adaptive. So far, Room to Read has published 223 story books in both Sinhala and Tamil. In 2019, Room to Read Sri Lanka launched its first non-fiction collection in Sinhala and in 2020, it aims to enhance the collection by authoring books in Tamil. At the same time, earlier this year, Room to Read partnered with the Ministry of Education to develop a teacher-guide manual for primary educators, in order to enhance their knowledge and teaching methods on reading development.
The organisation works in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations and the government since the beginning. Involving parents and communities is vital to ensure the sustainability of the programs, when Room to Read phases out from one area to move to another in need. The parents of Harindu (a 10 year old Room to Read’s Reading Development Program participant) knew about the benefits of reading all too well. “Room to Read parents’ workshops have taught us about the value of education all too well. As soon as their holiday started, I made a timetable to allow Harindu to read. He reads the stories to his sister as well. I do not want Harindu’s reading to get affected during this lockdown. It is important that he maintains his learning and reaches his full potential in education. Room to Read was instrumental in teaching us parents how to support our children with their learning. That’s why I always encourage Harindu to read at home”, Harindu’s mother commented.
Globally, Room to Read has benefited 16.6 million children in over 30,000 communities in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Grenada, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Vietnam, and Zambia. During the COVID-19 lockdown, Room to Read aims to reach out to children across the island by sharing read aloud videos via its ‘Room to Read Sri Lanka’ Facebook account. As an international book publisher, children around the world can access its digital library through Room to Read’s Literacy Cloud (https://literacycloud.org/), where nearly 200 books from all countries are available for our children to read and learn while they stay at home safe, amidst the COVID- 19 pandemic.