GOING BACK TO FUNDAMENTALS: WHY LITERACY IS IMPORTANT, BY ADETOLA SALAU
GOING
BACK TO FUNDAMENTALS: WHY LITERACY IS IMPORTANT, BY ADETOLA SALAU
Challenges with literacy affect
the entire nation of Nigeria, as they have negative influences on our
workforce, the well-being of our communities, our economy and our day-to-day
lives.
Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. — Richard Steele
“Once you learn to read, you
will be forever free.” ― Frederick Douglass
The first mistake that a lot of
people make due to the proliferation of books and the Internet in the 21st
century is to assume that everyone can read. Big, big mistake. I recently heard
statistics that indicated that 20 percent of children in Nigeria cannot read. I
was speechless for a long time after hearing this.
Literacy is the ability to
read, write, speak and listen, in order for effective communication to occur.
The real sovereignty of literacy lies not just in the ability to read and
write, but rather in a person’s capacity, in the application of these skills,
to efficiently connect, interpret and discern the intricacies of the world in
which s/he lives.
As an educator, the key task
that I have undertaken is the responsibility of enlightening and strengthening
young minds. As I always state whenever I stress key components of education –
the number one task is to ensure that our students are literate. Encouraging
children to read and write at a young age and building on that foundation
throughout their learning experiences as students enables that a solid
foundation is laid for them and they are equipped with future readiness for
their lives.
Lots of children these days are
‘digital natives’ – just as comfortable online as they are offline. The
internet enables endless educational possibilities, with constantly evolving
information streams. Yet, the voluminous material online can be daunting to the
children who cannot efficiently sift through and interpret what they read.
We are dealing with a weak
economy and escalating unemployment. We also have a current situation which is
a burgeoning one, wherein employers are having a hard time finding workers with
the right skills to fill the highly skilled jobs that are becoming available.
Strong literacy skills are key tools used by children to discern and interpret information, enabling them to utilise the internet to its full potential.
Recently I heard reports about
how dilapidated the literacy standards actually are and my heart broke. I
learnt about 10 to 11 year olds still sounding vowels. How did early literacy
skip them by? Early literacy is defined as “what children know about reading
and writing before they actually read or write.” The essential pre-reading
skills that our children should have are the following:
● Print motivation: How excited
and interested they are in books;
● Print awareness: Knowing how
to follow words on a page, as well as how to hold a book;
● Phonological awareness: The
understanding that words are made up of smaller sounds;
● Vocabulary: Knowing the names
of things, feelings, concepts, and ideas as well as connecting the words to
real life;
● Narrative skills: Ability to
describe things and events; being able to tell and understand stories;
● Letter knowledge: Awareness
that each letter is different and comes with a unique name and sound.
Why so much of an emphasis on
literacy?
By addressing literacy now, we
will have a stronger literate Nigeria for us all.
Challenges with literacy affect the entire nation of Nigeria, as they have negative influences on our workforce, the well-being of our communities, our economy and our day-to-day lives.
We are dealing with a weak
economy and escalating unemployment. We also have a current situation which is
a burgeoning one, wherein employers are having a hard time finding workers with
the right skills to fill the highly skilled jobs that are becoming available.
The only way to get those jobs
is to be able to read, write and use digital technologies.
To encourage literacy, I
suggest:
● Encouraging our children to
read and peruse through a diversity of texts such as newspapers, novels,
comics, magazines, and websites;
● Talking about things that you have read or watched that were entertaining, thought-provoking or useful;
● Discussing preferred authors and what you like about them;
● Playing games that increase knowledge and the delight in words;
● Making use of community resources for information, local and school libraries (this is a whole topic unto itself).
● Talking about things that you have read or watched that were entertaining, thought-provoking or useful;
● Discussing preferred authors and what you like about them;
● Playing games that increase knowledge and the delight in words;
● Making use of community resources for information, local and school libraries (this is a whole topic unto itself).
By addressing literacy now, we
will have a stronger literate Nigeria for us all.
href=”mailto:Carismalife4U@gmail.com”>Carismalife4U@gmail.com,
an advocate of STEM education, public speaker, author, and social entrepreneur,
is passionate about education reform.
