The CITW Zambezi team is proud to announce the successful establishment of its tenth Literacy Centre at Mizpah Primary School last month. As with all our other Literacy Centres, this initiative aims to create an informed, capable, and highly motivated environment to support students struggling with basic literacy skills and reading. We believe that these centres will have a profound impact on the lives of the students, as well as the surrounding communities.
As with all of our centres, Mizpah’s centre will be open throughout the day, providing access to resources, and support for students in need. We understand the importance of early intervention and the role it plays in shaping a child’s educational journey. Therefore, we have trained six school leavers from the surrounding communities to become Literacy Mentors.
These mentors underwent an intensive week-long Literacy training workshop, conducted in collaboration with Wordworks, an organisation dedicated to providing early literacy programme training. Equipped with fun, interactive, and carefully designed lesson plans, these Literacy Mentors will be able to improve and teach crucial literacy skills to those who require additional assistance. The English teacher in charge at Mizpah Primary School will oversee the mentors and the overall functioning of the centre.
It is disheartening to note that Zimbabwe’s literacy rates, once considered among the best in Africa, have declined dramatically. With more than half of the Grade 7 students leaving primary school without the ability to read, write, and comprehend English, the national language. However, we firmly believe that the introduction of our literacy centre programme will, and has already, slowly started to help in combating illiteracy levels in the areas where we are work, restoring hope to countless students across the country.
We must remember that being able to read and write is the key to a better future. By investing in literacy, we are investing in the potential of our children, the growth of our communities, and the development of our nation as a whole.
