Uganda’s literacy statistics are dire: 51% of P2 students in Uganda’s Central region and 82% of P2 students in the Lango region cannot read a single word of a simple paragraph. A recent survey of 16,200 households found that 98% of P3 students could not read a P2-level text. Uganda’s 2009 National Assessment of Progress in Education found that 56% of P3 students and 48% of P6 students read at the standard established for their grade level. (USAID-2009). Literacy is not only foundational for students’ success and retention in school, It is also recognized an important “pathway” that mediates the effects of schooling on health. As described by Lloyd and Young (2009), “the links between education and health are not just co relational but causal…evidence is mounting that literacy skills, when acquired in school and retained after school exit, are strongly linked to fertility and child health outcomes”.
PHF has steadily partnered with schools and community libraries in Uganda to achieve and promote a reading culture among school going children.