Blog
I love to read, and I think that love and skill is what carried me through my education and into a career. Reading opens doors (and worlds!) like almost no other skill can. That’s why we launched Great Girls Read, and why I’m so happy to report on its results in the 23/24 school year. Spoiler alert: the results were wonderful!
Mali Rising’s Girls’ Project is focused on helping girls get into school and succeed there. One key to success in school? Reading abilities! That’s where our Great Girls Read sessions come into play. Great Girls Read reading sessions are designed to help the girls improve their reading skills and find real pleasure in reading.
In Mali, all too often we find that students who diligently attend school still cannot read. Based on my own personal observations, I would estimate that around 80% of middle school students are not able to read a sentence correctly in French and 85% of elementary students are not able read aloud a simple sentence like “My school is pretty.”
Through the Girls’ Project’s Great Girls Read campaign, I am focused on changing this dynamic for our girls. I am particularly passionate about focusing on reading with our elementary school girls, because if they can learn reading young it will set them way ahead in middle school!
A key, new part of our Girls’ Project focuses on helping participating girls learn to read – and to love reading! This campaign -- Great Girls Read – works with girls all school year long to help them improve their reading skills and find joy in reading fun and engaging short pieces designed just for them. As the school year ends, the girls competed in a reading contest and crowned their top readers!
Last school year in Mali was an incredibly topsy-turvy one because of the pandemic, the teachers' strike, a coup, and the political protests. As a result, classes were suspended several times. Despite this situation, I am proud to report that the Girls' Project was able to carry out the activities that we planned for the year.
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