Determined to promote the creative writing skills of its pupils, University of Lagos Staff School Annex, Idi Araba, Lagos has presented publicly eight different books written by pupils of the school under the Young Authors Club.
The books titled are ‘Tales of Two Kingdoms’ by Erioluwa Salako and Laurel Salako; ‘Crown of the Street’ by Aishat Habeeb, ‘Always Come Back Home’, by Abiola Covenant, ‘Silver Spoon in the Moon’ by Abiodun Erioluwa, ‘Voices in the NoiseN by Rahmat Braimoh.
Others are, ‘Dairy of a Nigerian Teenager’ by Temitope Oyedele, and ‘Acts of Our Words’ by Akindipe Iranlowo.
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Juliet Adesinmi Ajayi, headmistress, Unilag Staff School said that since the inception of Art Club, pupils between ages 7 to 12 have written more than 50 storybooks which are very inspiring.
Speaking at the public presentation of the books in Lagos, Ajayi said the unrelenting efforts of all teachers at the school, helped discover quality writers and also helped the pupil direct their attention and time to productive and educative ventures.
According to her, “The children used their leisure hour and time productively. They brought their imaginations together to write stories that will teach moral lessons to shape the society. These efforts are necessary at this period in our society today”.
Akinade Eunice Adedoyin, deputy headmistress said that since the inception of the school in 1983, the school has produced scores of scholars who have left their footprints on the sand of life, adding that the school is still thriving and has had the ambience improving tremendously in the past few years.
Adedoyin said the eight pupils books being presented is the first-ever book launch to be done in Annex school in her 38 years of existence noting that all the books represented pieces of writing from a child’s heart and perspective with figments of their imaginations aided by happenings around them.
She observed that for pupils to be young writers, is very essential because it shows what type of talents they have inherent in them. “When we teach, we want to develop them to become useful citizens in the society. This is the maiden book launch in the annex school, but inside the main school in Akoka, it is well over 8 years that children have been writing books and it is been launched”. She said.
“Through writing, pupils develop their minds in order to know how imaginative they can be. Children mind is supposed to be a clean slate, so when we take them in and begin to teach them, all we want is for them to be developed. We take each child as individual and find a talent in each of them, we would like to bring it out”.
On the selection process for the authors, she said the school organised a training for children who are interested in writing, out of the 12 pupils that took part in the training, 8 of them are the authors whose books are being launched.
The educationist further said that the essence of promoting book writing is more about making sure the children shift their focus from addiction to electronic gadgets, such as television to having a mind of their own.
According to her, “I believe that if all the children are able to see that their age mates are writing, it should be a challenge to them knowing full well that a child who spends time to write will most likely not have the time to spend watching programmes on television or playing games and this will make them to be more studious”.
Commenting on how pupils can build an effective culture of reading, Adedoyin said parents have a role to play in inculcating in children the habit of reading. She urged parents to set a good example for their children on how to embrace reading as a culture, rather than being too busy and deploying television and mobile phones as the best way to keep the children busy.
