IN less than two months, the 2015 deadline set by the United Nations (UN), for its member-countries to attain the second Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which is achieving Universal Primary Education would elapse.
But more worrisome is that recent statistics still show that Nigeria has an alarming 10.5 million out-of-school children, as well as 66 per cent of its adults who are illiterate.
Therefore, as the nation celebrates 54 years of nationhood, with little hope of things getting better, stakeholders in the education sector, in line with other strategies adopted by government at all levels, have suggested that the establishment of community libraries across several communities in the country has a great potential in revolutionizing the education sector, as well as maximally reducing the alarming figure of out-of-school children.
Speaking to Vanguard Learning, Adedapo Conde, the Executive Director of Pyramid Educational Advancement Foundation (PEA Foundation), an educational institute which runs a community library in Ojokoro Estate, Ijaiye, Lagos, affirmed that the current statistics portend a bleak future for the nation if urgent measures are not taken by the government and other key stakeholders.
Conde, who said that free-usage libraries, benefit students residing in communities such as the Olera Estate, Ayonwale, Jankara, Ijaiye, Meiran, Alakoko, Alagbado as well as Ojokoro the host community, however said: “The statistics that say we have about 10.5 million out-of- school children and also 66 per cent Nigerian adults who are illiterate, mean a lot about the state of education in this country. For me, I am more interested in how we can move forward; how we can really reduce this abysmal trend one step at a time. That is why we are doing our best at PEA Foundation, committing time and resources to make community library work here in our community.
“Moving forward, the concept of a community library has the capacity to resolve a lot of these issues. It has the capacity to revolutionise our educational system. If we have libraries in communities across the country, it has the capability of stimulating the reading culture. If all hands can be on deck, the alarming statistics of illiteracy can be maximally reduced in this country. Community libraries can also be a very significant platform in accommodating the out-of-school children in the country. So, for us we are thinking towards the line of creating the community library model, test it in some communities so that subsequently, other communities can come to adopting this model. Meanwhile, we have the intention of setting community libraries in densely populated areas like Ajegunle, Obalende, Okokomaiko, Mushin, as part of our commitment to promoting education for all goal.”
Explaining how the foundation established the first-of-its-kind community library in Ojokoro Estate, Conde said: “This library was established and commissioned in February, 2014. But the organisation called Pyramid Educational Advancement Foundation (PEA Foundation), has been in existence for 5 years now, but was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission last year.
“We started with a Quiz competition. A friend of mine, Ayodeji Ilori, who is is now in India for his Masters degree, is the founder of the organisation. He discovered that a lot of people are no longer interested in investing in education, and he was bothered about this. After he came across a quote in a book that said ‘All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing,’ he considered himself a good man, then he called a couple of us and we brainstormed and that gave birth to the Brain Challenge Annual Quiz and Debate Competition.
“The library came about from the evaluation report of the impact we are making in the community with the annual quiz and debate competition. After the first competition, we noticed that a lot of the participants were scared to be involved because they feel it will be an embarrassment to them if they fumble at the competition. So, they were a bit reluctant in the first edition, but when they heard about the mouth-watery prizes we gave to the eventual winners, they became more receptive and began to participate.
“So, in our bid to further motivate them, we added an all-paid expense excursion to beautiful places in Lagos, beyond Agege where they were born and bred. We took them to the Conservation centre, the museum, we took them to the cinema to watch movies, we did branded T-shirts for them with their names on it.
“Everything inspired them to realise that their brain can give them glamour and monetary rewards. So, following this, the number of people that applied for the competition in 2010 skyrocketed. However, we discovered that there are some people that will write the qualifying test, but they won’t qualify because we can’t take more than 24 people. So, we came up with the Academy, a conference where we take them on soft skills training, time management, reading tips, bringing people that will teach them Mathematics and English Language.
“These people are those that mark WAEC exams, so they bring that expertise on how best to answer SSCE questions. We continued like this, but after a while, one of the founding members came up with the idea that there was need to engage these students after the annual competitions. So, the idea of the library came up by the Director of Library, a librarian by training.
“She thought it wise that it’s going to be a rallying point for the students, that even though we are not there, they are going to have the opportunity to continue to interact with great minds through books. That is how the idea of the library came up. And the next line of action was how to raise funds for the library.
“At first, the students were reluctant to come and read in the library, because they thought we were charging fee, but after some time, when they discovered using the library is free, they began to come enmasse to read during their leisure periods and also ahead of their exams. Today, the reception has been fantastic.
“Aside the primary and secondary school students that come here to study, adults also come here to use the library, retired civil servants, publishers, business development managers and even students of tertiary institutions. We have even witnessed cases where the people have to queue to make use of the library.”
Similarly, Ayodeji Aina, the Library Administrator, who said the community library is faced with funding problems such as paying staff salaries, however said: “The community library can actually help reduce illiteracy in the country. Take for instance, the Ojokoro Estate has several flats that are not conducive for reading because of the lack of space and over-crowding.
“When we established this library, residents lauded the initiative, saying that this is what is needed in the community, where pupils and students can come in to read during examinations. There are lot of materials here in the library. To further assist them, from time to time we place adverts about scholarship schemes, health tips, motivational quotes that will be beneficial to them.”
The Library Administrator said, “daily, we have over 200 users, and the number increases during exam periods.”
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