Seed Time Foundation brightened Dairy Farm Primary School and State Primary School, both in Agege, Lagos with libraries that left government officials, parents, teachers and pupils delighted on Wednesday, last week when they were inaugurated.
The libraries, furnished with reading tables, chairs, bookshelves and fans by the foundation, were stocked with mostly new books, particularly the Key Stage series comprising Levels 1-6 of basic literacy books; Lantern story and comic books, mathematics textbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other titles.
Mrs Tola Oladeji, who started the foundation in 2011, said it was made up of mostly teachers/parents from Grange School, Ikeja, where she teaches, and members of her church, First Baptist Church, Agege, and friends seeking to contribute time and resources to impact on pupils, teachers and parents,.
The decision to establish libraries in school was a follow up to the foundation’s initial project of neighbourhood reading clubs which she said was affected by external factors. With libraries in school, she hoped more pupils would benefit.
Prior to the launch of the Dairy Farm and State Primary Schools libraries, Mrs Oladeji said the foundation had endowed libraries in Keke Junior High School and Ajegunle Primary School, both in Agege.
She thanked the Education Secretary, Agege Local Government Education Authority (LGEA), Mr Olamilekan Majiyagbe, for being receptive to the foundation’s project and called for the deployment of librarians to manage the libraries so they are put to good use by the pupils.
“Hon Majiyagbe received us warmly and suggested the schools to benefit from the library initiative.
“The first thing I will recommend is having a librarian who would sit and receive the children when they come in an read. We look forward to children borrowing books, taking it home to read over the weekend and returning it. If the children are actually reading in six months, they will finish reading all the books. What we will do is to move the books around from different libraries so the pupils can read different books. If well used, we intend to keep supplying books to the library,” she said.
Chairman of the Lagos State University Education Board (LSUBEB), Dr Ganiyu Sopeyin, who was represented by the Deputy Director, Co-Curricula Department, Mr Hakeem Olalekan, and the Education Secretary, Agege LGEA, Mr Olamilekan Majiyagbe, praised the foundation for the investment, especially as it is made up of mostly teachers.
On his part, Majiyagbe underscored the importance of libraries to academic performance. He promised to employ librarians and monitor the use of the library. He called for more public spirited organisations to support the LGEA with more libraries.
“A school that has the required facilities will record better academic performance than a school without these facilities. The library encourages cognitive development.
“We are going to have permanent staff at the library to be monitored by the LGEA. They will close by 4pm like others so that teachers can use the library after school to write their lesson notes. We appeal to Seed Time Foundation to continue to support us,” he said.
Dr Sopeyin presented Mrs Oladeji with a letter of commendation for the Foundation’s work in the LGEA. He urged the beneficiaries to make good use of the libraries.
“For us to really appreciate Seed Time Foundation, I am using this medium to admonish teachers to put the libraries to good use,” said Sopeyin through his representative.
He also praised Majiyagbe for managing the LGEA well. “Agege LGEA is always standing out,” he said.
Mr Moroof Adams, Head Teacher, Dairy Farm Primary School said the presence of a library in the school would boost the reading habits of the pupils.