The Lagos State Government, on Thursday, took its “Read Aloud Lagos” campaign to the Lagos State Model Nursery/Primary School, Ikeja.
“Read Aloud Lagos,” an initiative of the Office of Education Quality Assurance, is one of the state government’s efforts to inculcate the habit of reading into students and children.
The Thursday campaign was part of activities lined up for the 2023 Children’s Day celebration.
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics, OEQA, Mr Remi Abdul, said the initiative focuses on “effective reading ability and promoting reading culture” among children and youths.
He added that the initiative was undertaken by the OEQA from the knowledge that it takes a good reader to be a good reader.
“We want to ensure that learners cultivate the habit of effective reading in order to acquire knowledge required to become good leaders in future,” Abdul said.
The founder of iRead, Ms Funmi Ilori, who took the participating pupils through a session of songs and rhymes, noted that the initiative, which started during COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, is taken to schools in communities across the state.
Ilori introduced the iRead Mobile Library to the pupils, saying “it goes to different communities where people can visit and take books away to read and return them later.”
Addressing pupils in one of the classes in the school, the Director-General of the OEQA, Mrs Abiola Seriki-Ayeni, said everyone was expected to read for at least 20 minutes daily.
The DG also encouraged the pupils to “write your own stories as well. But before you can be a good writer, you must be a good reader.”
Speaking to selected pupils at the main event venue, Seriki-Ayeni said, “Every person you know that has become great in life was a reader at some point of their lives.”
