BIC, a champion in encouraging students to develop a love for handwriting for over 70 years, celebrated the conclusion of its second My Words, My Story, My BIC Pen initiative with an event at the Kariobangi Primary School in Kenya.
The creative writing program helps students improve their handwriting skills and transition from graphite
pencils to ballpoint pens as they start a new school year.
My Words, My Story, My BIC Pen was created in response to a finding that poor handwriting often attracts a negative stigma, which can affect a child’s growth and development in the writing space.
This year’s celebration marked the successful completion of a 26-day course in 35 Kenyan
primary schools, with over 12,000 students and teachers taking part.
Participating students wrote a creative story using BIC pens to become more comfortable with the feel and movement of a ballpoint.
Students then presented their stories to their teachers, parents, and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) in Kenya. To commemorate the program, students received a special BIC Pen License presented to them by their teachers.
Commenting on the occasion, Paloma Lengema, Marketing Manager at BIC, said: “We are
committed to improving learning conditions of more than 250 million children by 2025, and
have placed the handwriting challenge high on our agenda due to the impact it has on a child’s
development process. Since the launch of My Words, My Story, My BIC Pen, we have reached
close to 25,000 Kenyan students, and are confident that this initiative will help us support and
empower thousands more in the future.”
Beyond My Words, My Story, My BIC Pen, BIC East Africa also trains teachers on how to
support students during this important transition period and provides them with the
necessary writing materials and assets required to run the course.
Praising the partnership with BIC, the Head Teacher of Kariobangi Primary School, Ms
Pamella Mang’oli explained that “handwriting is very important even during exams we have
compositions, and this will help both our teachers and our students to do better. As a public
school this initiative strengthens us and our students as we continue to compete with private
schools in the area”.
Sabrina Muthoni, a ten-year-old, class 4 student who participated in the handwriting course
expressed her happiness as she received her BIC pen license “I had fun participating in this
special course, my handwriting was quite neat even before, but now I think it is so much
better”.
Abigail Kerubu, also aged ten and in class 4 said “my handwriting has improved so much
during our training. We practiced and practiced, and I am happy to say that now that my
handwriting is better I am ready to use a pen”.
“Before the handwriting course my writing wasn’t very neat because I write very fast. As we
were writing our stories during the training, they told us to take our time and I found I can
write very nicely” shared 11 year old Mark Adrian from class 5.
Ian Mwangi, age 10 from class 5 said “I had so much fun writing my stories and reading them
to my friends, and of course I had no problem reading my own handwriting which is now so
nice and neat, I am very proud of what I have achieved”.
Teresea Muthoni Mungai, who introduced herself as Mama Victor, a parent of one of the
students who took part in the handwriting course said “from the moment this initiative began
my son was so excited to write his stories and work on his handwriting. He was proud of his
achievement and that is a great feeling for any parent”.
‘My Words, My Story, My BIC Pen’ is in its second year. To date, the initiative has reached
close to 25,000 students across Kenya.
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