Another contender for our 3rd anniversary competition

ENCOURAGING READING: THE CITY INITIATIVE By Ajisekola, Shamsudeen YemiEnglish Literature teacher, City Model College, Ibadan. Why would sane Nigerians abandon libraries and books? When libraries and books are abandoned, knowledge dies, darkness reigns and the earth drains; consequently, social evils engulf the land! Stressing the importance of reading, “Daily Independent” of Saturday, 2nd November, 2013 […]

ENCOURAGING READING: THE CITY INITIATIVE

By Ajisekola, Shamsudeen Yemi
English Literature teacher, City Model College, Ibadan.
Why would sane Nigerians abandon libraries and books? When libraries and books are abandoned, knowledge dies, darkness reigns and the earth drains; consequently, social evils engulf the land! Stressing the importance of reading, “Daily Independent” of Saturday, 2nd November, 2013 quoting stakeholders in an article entitled: “Why reading culture is dying among Nigerians” posited that: “Reading, whether for pleasure or for academic purpose is an essential habit that forms the bedrock of greatness in everyone regardless of age, gender or status.” Having the aforementioned in mind, the management of CITY Model College, Ibadan, has put in place various proactive measures aimed at reviving the reading culture among our students. This is in line with President Goodluck Jonathan’s literary campaign christened: “Bring Back the Book”. What are these measures? And of what benefits are they to the school?
Our management is the fulcrum of actions. Consequent upon this, every term, the school management earmarks a whopping sum of N100,000 for the purpose of stocking the school library with useful books, mostly literary texts. Teachers in the English Department go to notable bookshops to select suitable literary texts. Our school library is a mecca of a sort for our students.  They use it regularly for reading, for they have recognized it as the information house of the school and the window through which they peep into the world.  
A functional library needs functional readers. For this reason, “Special Reading Programme” (SRP) is organized to closely monitor our students reading activities. Apart from the students’ recommended texts, every term, all students have to read five extra literary texts. Invariably, every student reads 15 texts by the end of every academic session. Yes, they must read for two reasons. First, the project is part of their Continuous Assessment. Second, juicy prizes await outstanding readers. So, to monitor students’ reading activities, a pro forma has been designed and it contains such vital information as the title and author of a given text, character sketch, word list, key sentences, and morals learnt, among others. The filled forms are filed and evaluated. With this, which students would not like to fall in love with reading?
Notable among other initiatives put in place to encourage our students to read is a variety of extra-curricular activities entitled “Word Bank” and “Essay of the Month”. Statistics shows that students shy away from writing because of poor vocabulary. We guard against this by enriching the vocabulary of our students through the selection of new words from newspapers, magazines, and the like.  So, the “Word Bank” is all about selecting two opposite headwords and their synonyms. We do printouts of these, divide them over 10 weeks, treat the meanings, spelling and pronunciation of the words on Mondays, and evaluate them on Wednesdays and Fridays. All these are done at the morning assembly. Then at the eleventh week, we have a word contest entitled “Word Cup” with handsome rewards for the winning classes and outstanding students.  Interestingly, our students are mad about this competition. They use the given words now and then, even when playing.
Concerning the “Essay of the Month”, students are made to put into use what they learn from “Special Reading Programme” and “Word Bank”. Here, students write essays which are marked and corrected. Outstanding writers are handsomely rewarded for this too. Equally worth mentioning is our highly competitive “Spelling Bee Championship” which produces a “One-Day Principal”, tailored after the popular Lagos State spelling bee competition that produces a “One- Day Governor”. These are just some of the efforts being made to encourage reading among our students.
Happily, the efforts are yielding dividends. In 2012, the school won a national essay contest organized by Agric Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN). Also, in same year, the school won the first and third positions in the annual essay competition organized by Muslim Ummah of South-Western Nigeria (MUSWEN), with the school representatives being awarded scholarships by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakr III. And on November 4, 2013, the school was the winner at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s 4th National Quiz (Reading Competition) on Capital Market for secondary schools in Oyo State.
All in all, ours is a success story that should be emulated. And we believe in the golden words of Mr Oronto Douglass, Senior Special Adviser to the President on Research, Documentation and Strategy who said: “The time has come when educational opportunities should be for all; when knowledge should be promoted over the mad rush for materialism. Book culture, if properly put in place, will help promote a new Nigeria.”