‘Literacy not taught properly in public schools’

The National Coordinator of Read, Write Nigeria, Mrs. Olubunmi Salako, has said literacy in primary school is not being taught properly.
Salako said this on Friday during the closing of a week-long training session for primary school teachers at the Lagos Education Research Institute, Ojodu, Lagos State.
Over 50 primary school teachers participated in the programme.
The training was organised by the State Universal Basic Education Board in collaboration with GFR Educational Services, owned by a former deputy governor of Lagos, Mrs. Sarah Sosan.
Salako said, “This programme is a result of over five-year research into the public education system. We discovered that literacy is not properly taught in public primary schools and we are focusing on primary schools because they are the foundation.
“Letters and Sounds ought to be taught together. This is very important in teaching children to read so that they can have correct pronunciation of words. A sound like CH is often mistaken for SH but these children have never been taught the use of sound with letters compared to what is obtainable in private schools.
“We launched this programme in February last year and had our first workshop in July. This is our second workshop.”
It was learnt that the teachers, who participated in the workshop, were selected from all primary schools in the state.
They were trained in punctuation, class management, reading and spelling strategies, among others.
Some of the teachers described the training as interesting, saying they expected better performance from pupils once they put the new strategies into use.
A participant, Mrs. Yetunde Adeniyi, said, “I have spent 22 years in service; I teach Basic Two pupils and I teach Mathematics. This is a very interesting programme. It is not just for literacy alone, you can use this programme for teaching any subject. It is a very dynamic method unlike what is obtainable in the Grade 2 or NCE training.
“I look forward to trying these new strategies next week on my pupils when I go back to work. The most important aspect of this new method of teaching is that you can teach a large class of students by grouping them according to their intelligence.”
Another participant, Mr. Olusegun Faribido, lauded the government for the initiative, saying it exposed them to new strategies in teaching.
“A teacher will be able to handle 40 students successfully. They will be able to spell and write successfully within 10 and15 minutes irrespective of their rates of assimilation,” Faribido said.