ISRC: Promoting reading culture at no cost
There are over 10,000 books, about 5,000 journals, DVDs, magazines and other educational materials – all stuffed inside the multi-purpose library of the Inwelle Study and Resource Centre (ISRC), located in the serene and secluded environment of Amorji Nike, Enugu East Local Government Area, Enugu State. The Executive Director of the Centre, Prof. Christiana Chinwe […]
There are over 10,000 books, about 5,000 journals, DVDs, magazines and other educational materials – all stuffed inside the multi-purpose library of the Inwelle Study and Resource Centre (ISRC), located in the serene and secluded environment of Amorji Nike, Enugu East Local Government Area, Enugu State. The Executive Director of the Centre, Prof. Christiana Chinwe Okechukwu has the ambition to create and administer world class library system which satisfies the needs of the young people. The ISRC, established in 2005, serves as both a study and resource centre to encourage reading culture as well as human empowerment ground where youth engage in skill acquisition, according to its founder.
Prof. Okechukwu said that the acute scarcity of text books and journals in most libraries and higher institutions of learning was one of the reasons she set up the centre where up to 3,000 students, as well as university lecturers who visit the centre for research purposes, benefit from annually.
Her choice of a rural setting came from the fact that rural dwellers, particularly the girl-child and women, are mostly deprived of their educational rights.
Okechukwu, a novelist, poet and author of many books, teaches English at the Montgomery College, Rockville Maryland, USA. In spite of the fact that she is from Ogidi in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, she said that her research finding proved that setting up the centre at Amorji Nike community, Enugu State, would bear quick fruits and make more impact in the immediate environment.
She said the essence was to register a girl or boy (school dropout) in a remote village in Enugu, Anambra or any other place in the south-east zone of Nigeria and turn him into a fellow who gives evidence of high achievement capability in terms of academic excellence laced with good manners. And she does this without charging huge money from the numerous students. The students pay a token N500 just to renew their library ticket annually.
“So, the training is almost free,” she said.
She employed the best of teachers in subjects such as physics, biology, chemistry, mathematics, etc, pays them well to drill the students academically.
“I practically work for this place. I pay my workers from America through Western Union,” she explained.
Okechukwu said she expects only “victory songs” and “hymns of success” from the beneficiaries at the end of the day.
“That is the culture I want to create; the culture where people are not allowed to rot away due to lack of care. I don’t believe that a bad person cannot be changed. And that is why I am trying to create a Little America here for them,”she said.
Allowing the students to pass through the process she calls “the booth camping” which tries to capture the girls that have completed their school certificate exams but without excellent results, always gives them the best remedial education they need to gain admission into tertiary institutions of their choices.
“Within that one month period of booth camp, I teach them English the way I teach in America. We get top-notch teachers of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, literature, and economics. We lay emphasis on science subjects. Then we teach them computer; computer repairs, software installations, etc. We make sure that they have the necessary skills and do some jobs and get paid in the process. I see a lot of people here in Enugu who are going to school and still doing some work. It makes the child responsible by the time he/she is out of school,”she said.
The center had expanded with stations set up in Inyi, Enugu Ezike and Ozalla Ezimo both in Enugu State and at Ogidi as well as Ozubulu in Anambra State. She said that since inception ten years ago, the human empowerment outfit has assisted scores of young girls in getting the remedial education needed for institutions of higher learning of their choices.
Professor Okechukwu said ISRC pays more attention to girl-child education and is committed to planning the future for the Nigerian child. According to her, education remains the bedrock for the advancement of any nation, which is why the centre had over the years made huge investments in laying solid foundation for the education of the youth, who are future leaders of tomorrow.
She blamed the school system for the falling standard of education.
“What is the teacher, lecturers doing to make the system better? It is only when the school inspectors are coming that they (teachers) go to borrow books and other educational materials to fill the school. We are always presenting the wrong façade. We like to emulate the whites even when we don’t have the resources. Why don’t we make our education culturally?” she said.