By Dennis Agbo

Literacy promotion group, Universal Learning Solutions, has set all necessary apparatus in motion to celebrate the 2021 World Read Aloud Day in the five states of the South-East geopolitical zone on February 3.

Read Aloud Day, celebrated every first Wednesday of February, gives an opportunity for people around the globe to celebrate the joy of reading aloud and to advocate for stories as tools to build community, literacy, and equity.

Project Manager for South East, Mr Innocent Nwosu said that this year’s celebrations will include a special focus on engaging communities virtually to bridge the educational and emotional gaps created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nwosu disclosed that the day is being celebrated in Ebonyi state by the UK and Nigeria’s registered not-for-profit organisation, Universal Learning Solutions in partnership with Ebonyi State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, on the Jolly Phonics English literacy project in the state.

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He invited teachers and parents in Ebonyi state to submit videos of their children reading fluently with joy for a national competition, which he said will provide cash prizes and Jolly Phonics materials to the winners, noting Ebonyi children has benefited from the Jolly Phonics teaching strategy which has significantly upped their reading and writing abilities.

“In the wake of COVID-19 and its severe impact on students’ emotional and educational wellbeing, this opportunity is more important than ever,” Nwosu said.

He recalled that the founders of the Day and Executive Director of LitWorld, Dorothy Lee, had noted that the World Read Aloud Dayhas become a movement engaging hundreds of millions of people around the world in standing up for literacy as a foundational human right.

“When communities have access to books that are meaningful to them, and tools to share their own stories, every aspect of life improves.”

Country Director of Universal Learning Solutions, Patrick Uzu said that they will use the occasion to showcase the tremendous improvement in the literacy skills of pupils in public primary schools across the state that had taken place in the past.

“Huge improvements in the literacy levels of pupils have been recorded in Ebonyi state and the event provides us with a great opportunity to celebrate this great achievement, said Uzu.

Vanguard News Nigeria