Education stakeholders proffer solutions to poor reading culture

Also, teachers should give assignments to students on the Internet, creating reading group and other learning activities through ICT.

Some academics and stakeholders in the education sector proferred these as some of the solutions to the current poor reading cultures.

They spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a separate interview in Lagos on Saturday against the backdrop of the World Book Day usually celebrated in March .

NAN reports that the World Book Day is a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and most importantly a celebration of reading designated by UNESCO and marked in over 100 countries all over the world.

The idea behind the celebration is to explore the pleasures of reading by providing people, especially children, with the opportunities to have books of their own.

Mr Femi Adesanya of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka said experience and available research works had shown that Nigerians and, more, specifically students, have poor attitudes toward reading .

Adesanya of the Department of English and General Studies said that it was unfortunate that commitments by Nigerians to reading in the past could not be compared to the present .

” The attitude, interest and motivation of students are no longer encouraging nowadays.

“This can be linked to the environment they find themselves and the impact of the social media on them.

“Social media has taken over the reading of relevant learning materials in most schools, students now spend more of their time on informal activities on the social media than on books.

“ICT can be a viable linguistic weapon for promoting the reading culture in Nigeria if well utilized in our homes and schools.

“Giving assignments to students on internet, creating reading group and other learning activities through ICT will go a long way in promoting the reading culture, ” he said.

The lecturer also mentioned lack of well graded relevant reading books , materials with global realities and poorly equipped libraries as some of the factors inhibiting the promotion of the reading culture among students.

He also said that poor teaching methodology and lack of commitment from the teachers and parents were some of the collaborative factors aiding the negative habit.

He urged all stakeholders in education sector to wake up to their duties toward curbing the trend .

Adesanya advised the government to assist by Nigerians improve on their reading cultures by providing them enabling reading environment and equally subsidise the prices of books .

He said that the language curriculum must also be restructured to reflect new reading strategies and promote the interest of students in reading .

” Reading should also be encouraged and taught in schools as an essential part of language itself and more reading motivational techniques must be deployed in a more realistic reading culture ,” he said.

The lecturer, however, noted that literacy is as good as food for the body and so is ability to read by an individual.

According to him, the more you read,the more adequately informed, knowledgeable and beneficial you are to yourself and the society at large.

Also, Mr Ogboko Christian, the Principal Librarian, Anchor University, Lagos (AUL) described the attitude of students toward reading as lukewarm, lazy and not encouraging.

” Social media has diverted the interests of our students from reading because instead of them to use the medium for research purposes that will enhance their academic performance, they now use it for social purpose .

”That is why here in Anchor University, we do not allow the use of sophisticated phones that will distract our students” he said.

In order to encourage the students reading habits in the university, Ogboko said the university was committed to organising seminars that would stir their interests in reading.

“We usually organize seminars to stir the interests of the students so as to give themselves to reading and research , ” he said

Mr Olayinka Aderoju, Vice-Principal, Nigeria Tulip International College (NTIC), Ogun, said reading culture was certainly declining among Nigerians.

” Very few are those who still nurture the habit, unlike the good old days, students no longer read for pleasure or at their leisure except when they need to study for upcoming examinationps.

” Nigerians were noted for a high level of their reading culture then and this led to the increasing number of publishing houses that specialized in the production of prose and drama texts.

“We can still remember the pacesetter series, undoubtedly, the reading habit was there for Nigerians in the years gone by, ” he said.

Aderoju blamed the trend on socio-political and economic factors.

He said that the factors had forced many parents to abdicate their roles of instructing their children to ‘go and read your books ‘ as in time past.

” The setting for education has now been expanded by technology to include all online platforms or the social media.

“Unfortunately, these have more pervasive influence on the young Nigerians.

” Those who are not much affected by these are affected by distraction from watching international football matches such as the English Premier League (EPL) and others, ” he said.

Aderoji advised parents to be alive to their responsibilities as the first agent that could motivate their children to pick up the reading habit.

The Vice-Principal charged school owners and officials to encourage their pupils to imbibe the reading culture.

He said that the schools were the only institution that could take up the roles abdicated by many parents.

“Government and other stakeholders can also play a pivotal role in the establishment of sites where young people can access literary works.

“They can also participate in competitions to check their knowledge of the books read.

” Technology can be adapted in the floating of sites purely for reading , while competitions can be organized using those platforms, ” he said.

A parent, Mrs Folorunso Daniel also advised other parents to encourage the reading culture in their homes by showing examples to their children.

Daniel said if a parent should make it a habit to read at least for an hour a day, children who naturally have the habit to imitate, would learn from them and do same also.

According to her, the child would naturally grow to love reading and finds pleasure in it.

Daniel said that their would be no need for the parent to force the child to read, as reading would have become a part of him or her.