It is something that both parents and teachers have a role to play in improving one’s learning skills. This is in view of the fact that, yes, students spend many hours in schools, but that later part of the day is spent with parents.
Thus, creating a reading culture should not be the responsibility of an individual. It takes dedication, perseverance, and effort. It’s led by an enthusiastic and dedicated approach involving parents and teachers.
In our Tuesday’s edition, we ran a story in which Child Fund The Gambia recently extended largesse to Ndemban Lower Basic School with the presentation of library materials and tables to the said school in the West Coast Region.
It is quite interesting to recollect some few years ago when the National Library Services used to criss-cross the length and breadth of the country distributing books to schools across the country.
We want to extend special appreciation to the ChildFund Gambia Office for the foresight in supporting this particular school with library books. Library in The Gambia used to be rich with useful materials and also serves as a place for research. However, it is sad that those past glories are fast fading away.
Not that there are not enough materials at the libraries but the culture of frequenting libraries for studies after school is fading away. Many youngsters have developed an ‘get rich’ instantly mindset, while peer influence is forcing many to the ‘back-way’.
Let the younger generation get at the back of mind that education goes beyond the confinement of the four classrooms. In fact reading at home appeals to some, especially when the place is not noisy.
Therefore, students should make national and school libraries their friends, where they can learn more and do school assignments. For one to excel academically, one must be able to read and write.
Also, many believe that to improve children's ability to read, teachers should ensure students become fluent and engage them from an early age. Exposing students to reading at an early age, would not only help them better their reading skills, but would also prepare them to be good readers.
It said that a creative and exciting reading culture not only breeds capable and committed readers, it boosts wellbeing, community connectedness, and student outcomes. Let’s promote the culture of reading in schools.