How Many Secondary Students Have Heard Read Chimamanda's Novel !

"The purple hibiscus", " half of a yellow sun" these are two novels written by Ngozi Adachie C. surprisingly must Nigerian secondary school students don't know who she is. Are they to be blamed? certainly, not. The shift to viewing films, watching football and aping musician had robbed the youngsters of time to read and do their assignment. They only books must read are soccer related or that which deals with celebrities and at times pornographic materials.
    How much do youngsters know about Helon Habila, Toni Kan, Kaine Aggrey and even the likes of Dan Brown etc. Their brain is stuff with the names of premiership, la liga, super liga, bundesliga players. That's their preoccupation now. As a Teacher, i am concern and call on nairalanders to suggest ways to encourage the young ones to develop interest in BOOKS.

Yes indeed the fact that most of the younger folks have deserted the reading culture is very sad and counter-productive. However, we are living in the digital age and cannot ignore this.

I think the most realistic solution is for parents to play their part as effectively, if not more effectively than teachers. Students/pupils have no TV, internet etc in school so they really have no choice during school hours. Most of the books in the school library are also educative and not just entertaining. The reverse is the case at home.
It is imperative for parents to cultivate a reading culture in their children right from Primary 1. For instance, for every hour the child spends watching T.V they must madatorily read and report a portion of a selected book. I have an aunt who diligently regulates the amount of T.V her children watch. She is a concerned parent and has taken it upon herself to make sure her children have a formidable reading culture. Even time spent in Lagos traffic, between Lekki and Anthony is spent reading.

So peeboy the teacher, you could encourage your childrens' parents more. Help them understand the advantages of a good reading culture and more importantly, the fact that parents play a greater role due to the reasons I listed above. Good luck!

The culprits are Cable TV and video games. Its much more fun to play video games than read. If I had as much TV growing up as they do now I really don't think I'll even have finished from school.

I don't even know if Chimamanda's books are meant for kids. I can't blame them for not having read any. But Cyprian Ekwensi and co. . . they are missing a lot

I also don't know if parents bother buying books for their kids. Buying books and limiting time spent in front of the TV will surely help.