By Prisca Sam-Duru

Due to the high unemployment rate in the country, schools are beginning to see the importance of helping children discover and develop their talents so that once out of school, they will become self-reliant instead of wasting years on job hunting.

A visit to Chrisland Schools revealed a high regard for arts and craft as a means to securing a better future for the children. A vital area through which Chrisland Schools is helping to nurture total children who will someday graduate as employable or self-reliant individuals is the visual art. The children’s artworks on display at the gallery/art studio in the school are mind-blowing. The Arts supervisor, Mr Adesanya Samuel explained that they are serious about encouraging talented students in the arts and crafts. Heartwarming is the fact that their work materials were mostly recycled from wastes.

And soon, according to him, the children will be hitting the world with the largest guitar in the history of the entire globe. Pieces of the guitar made from cartons and other waste materials are on display at the gallery. Empty Pringles cans were creatively used to design graduation scrolls while broken pencils were aesthetically used in designing edges of framed photographs.

Another interesting area is music. And talking about helping children decide early whether to choose music as a career,   the music supervisor, Mr Moses Abel said the subject is compulsory and the essence was to assist the children with the right way to express their abilities. While the students are taught how to play diverse musical instruments, such as saxophone, piano, trumpet etc, they touch on different genres ranging from inspiration, classic, gospel etc.

Nurturing children with love for reading who probably will become great writers, is at the heart of the school. It was heartwarming to learn that at such tender age, even children in preschool can borrow books from the library. The libraries are well stocked with both educational and storybooks. At the Nursery section, children’s picture books by both foreign and Nigerian authors occupy so much space. The reason for the huge stock according to the supervisors, was to encourage children to develop the love for reading at an early stage in addition to helping them have balanced thoughts on cultures of diverse people across the globe. Wondering if the books will come back in one piece after they’re borrowed, the handlers disclosed that the essence of the library was not just to encourage students to begin reading useful materials early in life but also to teach them the value of books, hence, the books are never returned damaged.

Interesting was the Language lab. This classroom/lab filled with computers and other high-tech gadgets, augments the normal classroom teachings of English Language, Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa languages. The essence it was explained, was to ensure that while they communicate in English, they do not lose their identities. Who knows, they could serve as writers/translators in the future.

Also, Vice-Chancellor of Chrisland University, Professor Chinedum Peace Babalola joined her voice in the campaign- arts as a vital tool to securing the future of children – harped on quality education as well as the importance of nurturing total children whose worth wouldn’t be undermined by unemployment in the future.