The capacity building session, which attracted three teachers from each of the 10 schools, seeks to augment the skills of participants in the area of library management to effectively man their duty.
Besides, the initiative is part of a project that Unique Foundation (The Gambia) in partnership with Book Aid International with support from the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, through the Regional Education Directorate, Region 2, is jointly implementing as part of Classroom Libraries 2024 Project.
In addition, the project aims to establish 30 classroom libraries in 10 schools across the West Coast region. As planned all participating schools will receive at least three classroom libraries, each containing a minimum of 250 books tailored to children’s reading levels.
These books will include various subject texts, storybooks, workbooks and more.
Welcoming the participants, Solomon Ifeanyi Nathaniel, National coordinator of Unique Foundation, gave a brief introduction of what the training entails and called on teachers to be steadfast to learn new skills.
While describing the project as timely, he equally expressed gratitude to their partners for supporting Unique Foundation (The Gambia) in this laudable initiative.
Michael Essieme Hughes, Assistant Project Officer, exposed participants how to start and run a Basic School Library during which he clearly described the purposes of a school library, how to take stock of books in a Library as well as how to classify and arrange books logically, shared ideas of how to make reading more appealing to children and much more
Marie, a volunteer staff at Unique Foundation from Portugal, expressed similar sentiments, exposing participants on ways to handle books and significant issues relating to safeguarding the rights of the child.
Bakary Sanyang, Director of National Library The Gambia, reminded teachers and other participants of the need to use library books judiciously to enhance the curriculum.
During the session, participants were exposed to a range of areas on the required skills needed to successfully run a classroom library.
