FG, State Governments Tasked with Improving Reading and Creative Skills Strategies

FORMER First Lady of Oyo State and Ambassador of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Ms. Bukola Ladoja, has spoken out against the poor culture of reading and writing among Nigerian children and developed a strategy to solve the problem.

Ms Ladoja, who is also the President and Founder of the Reading Awareness Society for Development in Africa (RASDA), called on federal and state governments to develop strategies to improve the reading skills and creativity of young people generation.

She spoke at the unveiling of her new reading campaign project titled: 'One Child, One Book, One Week' in Abuja.

The project was launched at the ANA annual conference.

She lamented having been to schools where high school students were unable to spell their names correctly.

She said, "We are here for the Nigerian child; children need a new direction. We want to give them a foundation that will enable them to be of service to themselves and to the nation in its together."

According to her, the project is aimed at all schools in the country, whether public or private, saying "we urge everyone to be part of this project which aims to prepare the younger generation."< /p>

One Child One Book One Week is a favorite project of Mrs. Bukola Ladoja, and it is designed to ignite the fire of reading among primary and secondary school students in Nigeria.

While emphasizing the importance of human capital development for nation building, Ms. Ladoja noted that the project would go a long way in addressing issues associated with the lack of reading culture among Nigerian children and train in reading and comprehension.

Nigeria has been ranked by the World Culture Score Index as one of the countries in the world with the lowest reading culture.

The National Commission for Mass Adult Literacy and Non-Formal Education has also projected that 38% of Nigerians are illiterate and four out of 10 primary school children cannot read or understand.

Ladoja said these and many other issues call for action, however, saying little is being done by education sector stakeholders to correct the anomalies, noting that reading cannot be considered as having taken place without understanding.

“Understanding is an important skill that we need to teach children for them to be successful in their studies and applications in life,” she said.

The former first lady further noted that studies have shown that reading; learning and intelligence correlate with each other, emphasizing that the analytical skills that help understand problems and solve problems are derived from constant reading.

She added that "regular reading brings good mental health which improves emotional intelligence and helps with self-awareness, empathy, social skills and many other leadership skills.

"Therefore, the relationship between reading, knowledge acquisition, intelligence, and personal empowerment is important for nation building. Critical thinking and human development are lost when it is there is a lack of reading,” she noted.

According to her, each participating school would be required to purchase different types of storybooks for each child in a class. "For example, if there are 10 students in primary school, teachers will order 10 different types of storybooks and students will swap books on a weekly basis until each of them has read at least 10 pounds in 10. weeks.

"Each book has its own moral lesson and each child will have a mix of moral values. Different comprehension skills and strategies will also be applied each week to train students for each book. We have tested these skills and strategies in our pilot project and the result is amazing”.

She noted that Nigeria is now full of problems and needs solution providers. "You cannot provide a solution with an empty mind. You can only provide a solution with a knowledge-laden mind. We need people who know full well that they will bring them in to solve the country's problems.

"We have social vices today and many children are blind because there is nothing in their heads, what I would call a clean slate, a blank slate. However, we say that if their minds are loaded with knowledge, these children will not be involved in evil vices. They will think ahead; they will think positively, she said.

Speaking on the age to inculcate the culture of reading in children, the First Lady of ex-Oyo said, from the beginning as soon as a child is enrolled in the nursery, noting however that the children should be taught in their mother tongue for proper understanding in accordance with national education policy.

She also talked about the need to train the teachers who are to deliver the curriculum in the classroom, saying the government spends billions of naira on primary, secondary, and...