Africa-Press – Mozambique. Nampula Provincial Library is struggling with the problem of a lack of school books. According to data shared by its managers, of the 15,350 existing volumes, only 130 are titles aimed at 8th to 12th grade school education, a situation that is seriously limiting students’ access to knowledge.
In an interview with Ikweli in connection with World Public Library Day, celebrated on the 1st of this month, the director of the Nampula Provincial Public Library, Acácio Carvalheira, revealed that the institution had not received any new books for ten years. This situation is replicated in the six district libraries in Nampula province, namely Angoche, Monapo, Ilha de Moçambique, Nacala, Memba and Eráti.
“When students arrive here, they are forced to wait hours to access a copy, which is often in the hands of another student. And the six district public libraries are in the same situation of lack of books”.
Meanwhile, according to Carvalheira, the problem of lack of books is not limited to libraries alone, but also affects school libraries, where the situation has been aggravated by the vandalism of these libraries during the violent post-election demonstrations.
“This year, out of the seven or so schools with school libraries in the city of Nampula, only two provide information: Maparra and 12 de Outubro. The rest of the libraries were vandalized. They destroyed everything from the premises to the materials, so it is difficult to restore them, and I believe that the schools do not have the means to acquire books. Therefore, there is more demand for services at the provincial library, but we are unable to meet the demand due to a lack of books,” Carvalheira said.
In addition to the lack of books, the libraries are faced with the state of disrepair of the buildings, Carvalheira explained.
“When it rains here, we have a hard time, it rains everywhere, even in the general reading room itself. I have heard other colleagues in the districts complaining about this problem. We have already reported it, but we have not received a satisfactory response, so we will work within our means.”
According to the director of the Nampula Provincial Library, this lack of school books is largely due to the economic situation the country is going through, which makes it difficult to acquire new materials for public libraries.
“We have a considerable number of books, but few meet the needs of students. This creates serious constraints for those who depend on the library to study. The economic situation has hit us hard, there is a lack of budget, and to this day there is no budget in all areas, and it is difficult for me to say that we will be able to get it tomorrow or the day after. The situation has not been the best for us since 2016.”
Acácio Carvalheira said that because of this, there was little reason to celebrate the [World Libraries] day, and it was sad for him to see his readers, especially students, having to wait to have access to a textbook.
“We spent the day with some sadness because we saw some users returning because they were unable to get one or another volume. We are not satisfied, so we reflect on this issue. Where are we going with this economic situation? If we do not overcome it, will people just come to sit?” he asked.
Some students, even without recording an interview, talk about the difficulties and call on authorities and partners to bolster the collection with more school books, in order to guarantee the right to education and promote the habit of reading.
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