Jane Francis Community Library

 Introduction:

The Community Library was inspired by John Mary's personal experience of attending rural schools where students have no access to text books or public libraries. In rare cases a school may posses a handful of copies which are not enough for students. If a school happens to have a library, it is often not well stocked and students can not get access to all the books they need. In the rural areas, actually 90% of the schools, primary and secondary schools do not have a library. The few textbooks available are only for teacher's use. However, it often happens that even the teachers do not have enough academic resources to help them make good lesson plans. This hinders their ability to do research and thus results in poor academic standards of the schools. In the long run, it is the students who suffer the effects--often manifested in poor performances at national level. Students in rural schools are disadvantaged because they can not academically compete with their counterparts in city schools who have access to good academic resources. These schools also have a hard time recruiting well-trained teachers due a number of reasons: most teachers are hesitant to teacher rural schools; the communities served are poor and thus the salaries are low; and also lack or academic resources.

Why this Project?

We all agree that to achieve academic success, students need to have access to academic resources that can make their learning process smooth. We would therefore like to address this educational need for our rural communities.  The proposed library is aimed for the sole purpose of serving the very rural communities who do have not previously had any access to a public library or any information center. The facility will be located in a rural area of south-western Uganda along the Masaka-Mbarara road, 50 kilometers away from Masaka town. The facility will have enough space for both materials needed for students at all levels and useful resources for the local people.  The proposed plan is to establish a well stocked library, a computer center both of which will act as an rural community information center. This will not only serve the school population but also the wider communities. Students attending over 15 other local schools will gain access to academic resources.

Objectives:

1. The community will be a resource for local students and teachers. Students will have access to useful study material which are not available at the schools.
2. Having access to educational resources, students will be able to improve their performances in school and compete favorably on national level exams.
3. Local, national, and international news papers, bulletins, and magazines will made accessible in either electronic or paper formats. The community will become well informed because people will have access to a wealthy information resource.
4. Agriculture being the backbone of Uganda's economy and acknowledging the fact that the rural population is dependent on agriculture, books on modern methods of farming and sustainable agriculture will be made available to the farmers.
5. Entertainment and media materials will be made accessible to people. This will be a resource for recreation and learning.
6. Employment opportunities will be created for the local people.

 The Need:

 We need more textbooks for elementary, high school, and vocational training programs.

 The Challenge:

Acknowledging the reality that most of the local people are either illiterate or have very low levels of education, it will be a challenge to build up the motivation to read and utilize the education resources that will made available at the center. To respond to this challenge, the center has designed a literacy education program to enable people to acquire basic writing and reading skills. This program will also include basic computer training.