Minister Williams Supports Community Reading Programme

In Rose Town, Kingston, a community library sits at the intersection of Moore and Duff streets.

It is a makeshift structure, with old refrigerators and wooden pallets used to create bookshelves, which are mounted on the exterior walls of a building. There is zinc covering, but just wide enough to protect the books from the elements.

Students and adults, including the elderly, visit the ‘Di Cawna Library’ every day, where they have ready access to thousands of donated books from various genres to read.

There are no librarians or attendants at the community library. Persons are free to come by any time, day or night, to select books for reading, and once they are finished they can simply exchange them for others.

Di Cawna Library was the first stop for Minister of Education and Youth, Hon. Fayval Williams, as she engaged in activities to mark Read Across Jamaica Day on May 9.

She endorsed the project, noting that it aligns with the Ministry’s efforts to foster a love for reading among Jamaicans.

The Minister was impressed with the number of children and adults that came to the library during her visit, to access reading material.

She said it showed that people are still interested in holding a physical book.

“I have to say, in the age of technology, where a lot is available to our students on their devices, you would think that children would not be interested in physical books, but [it’s] the contrary,” she told JIS News.

The Minister is urging Jamaicans to support initiatives that will boost literacy development among children and to donate to programmes such as the Di Cawna Library.

“We’re encouraging Jamaicans everywhere… if you have books at home and they’re in good condition, donate them to make books available to our children any time of the day,” she urged.

Co-Founder of the Di Cawna Library, Rachel McDonald, told JIS News that since the facility was launched in August 2022, two other locations have been established in Providence Heights in Montego Bay, St. James and at Treasure Beach in St. Elizabeth.

She said that the books are donated by Jamaicans at home and abroad.

“We have this big energy, and because the response has been magnificent by many persons in Jamaica and even in the diaspora, we decided to target 23 primary schools in the greatest need of support,” she disclosed.

As such, Ms. McDonald said that “scaled-down versions” of Di Cawna Library will be stocked with books at these schools.

“We have a fridge stocked with books for children and we have begun that [initiative]. We have reached five out of 23 schools [so far],” she notes.

Other activities are held in the Rose Town community to promote reading, such as an ‘Empower Me’ spelling bee competition, as well as reading challenges among children.

“So, we are seeing engagement, and this is what is just so exciting and literally propels us to do more to promote literacy, because it lends itself to sustainable development,” Ms. McDonald told JIS News.

The Minister also stopped at the Kingston and St. Andrew Parish Library to read to children of all ages.

Special Education Specialist at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Dr. Rebecca Tortello, who was also at the parish library engaging with students, told JIS News that the organisation continues to test its digital textbook programme, Universal Design for Learning, among selected students.

The programme involves taking textbooks approved by the Ministry and converting them to digital format to meet the needs of each child.

“This means a child who is differently abled, who might be deaf or blind, can sit in the same classroom as children who are not. They engage with the same content at the same time and their teacher can be teaching in a mixed-ability setting,” she explained.

Dr. Tortello said that Jamaica is the first country to undertake this programme, which aligns with UNICEF’s mission to promote children’s rights and improve their life opportunities.

“We want to help Jamaica to make our classrooms not only safe and fun learning spaces, but accessible learning spaces for all. So, this is one tool and we’re using technology to do it,” she said.

The programme is also in partnership with Book Fusion and the Special Education Unit in the Ministry.