PROMOTING LITERACY AND READING AMONG STUDENTS
According to the article on Literacy by Wikipedia, literacy in its broadest sense describes particular ways of thinking about, doing reading and writing with the sole purpose of comprehending and expressing thoughts and idea in writing in some specific context of use; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy. Literacy transcends class, race age or gender and is fundamental to reducing poverty, building life skills, and achieving gender equality. Every child deserves an opportunity to be literate but yet, 773 million youths and adults in the world can’t read. The rewards of reading are immense; aside from enhancing our communication skills, it also helps reduce stress. Nevertheless, many students still cringe at the thought of reading. What can be done to promote and encourage independent reading among students?
- Provide a conducive space/environment: students read and study better in an environment or space they are most comfortable. This helps to increases their eagerness and zeal to read and also aid them in EXAM PREPARATION.
- Set rewards for students that take part in educative challenges: reading on its own comes with so many rewards, but students tend to participate more in reading and learning when there is a price attached to it. Parents and schools are advised to conduct educational competitions or challenges for student and award prizes to the best participants, in other to encourage them to keep reading and participate more actively to improve their literacy skills. An example of these competition is the FIGURES OF SPEECH challenge by Zigmatech consult limited that is available to every student and has cash prizes to be won, click the link https://examguide.com/challenge and stand a chance to win.
- Surround students with educative and interesting books: this is one among the STUDY TRICKS AND TIPS to develop reading habits in students. They should have free access to educative and interesting books to help them increase their interest in reading and improve their communication skills.
- Support high quality educational facilities: every student has the right to access high quality educational facilities such as libraries, laboratories and well equipped classrooms to help them better in preparing for STUDENT EXAM. In most cases, funding might be the hindrance to providing these facilities, but technology has made it easy with the development of e-libraries, e- learning and VIRTUAL LAB software that serve the same purpose as these facilities. Schools that do not have the necessary funding to provide a standardized laboratory for their students can substitute with the VIRTUAL SCIENCE LAB by Zigmatech consult limited through the link https://www.examguide.com/contact . The virtual lab offers similar experience to student as a laboratory equipped with standard and sophisticated equipment.
- Set aside time for independent reading: students can be encouraged to read independently by their schools and parents, when they make it a priority to set aside a specific time for the student to read any book of their choice at a stipulated time in a day.
- Access to technology: with the rapid evolution in technology, the educational system has been forced to adopt different methods of impacting knowledge to students for better understanding and retention. The use of advanced technological methods in teaching and studying has been of great benefits. Students can study on their own from the comfort of their home, using tutorial videos made by well experienced teachers, ask any pressing question they might have and get relevant answers from capable teachers within seconds. Some of these tutorial videos can be accessed from the Learning Hub by Zigmatech Consult Limited through the link https://www.examguide.com/learninghub/.
- Knowledge of the study method that works for each student: it is necessary for every student to know the study method that best works for him/her. This helps to improve the rate of understanding and knowledge retention.
William J. Clinton said, “Literacy is not a luxury, it is a right and a responsibility”, every student has the right to be literate and at little or no cost, so take the bull by the horn and face your studies head on.