Bridge Nigeria staff members donate books to pupils

As part of efforts to encourage pupils to explore books and cultivate the habit of reading, the support team at Bridge Nigeria recently organised a book fair and donated 120 storybooks to pupils across Bridge schools in Lagos.The fair was organised to commemorate World Book Day, which was observed a couple of weeks ago. The benefactors embraced the initiative and purchased storybooks to so many Bridge schools.

The books donated to the pupils include stories that promote strong cultural values and spread messages of kindness, integrity, curiosity and diversity.

Managing Director of Bridge Nigeria, Olu Babalola noted that Bridge’s central support staff came up with the idea of donating physical books to enable pupils and parents carry on the culture of reading that Bridge fosters in its schools when they are in their homes. According to her “The ability to read is a skill that is vital to a child’s future success. Reading expands the mind by developing a child’s imagination and engaging critical thinking skills.”

Bridge considers reading and literacy to be foundational to a child’s learning. A recent report by DFID revealed that this focus is producing results. In literacy, Bridge pupils in Lagos are demonstrating higher attainment than their peers in other comparable private schools by 0.35 standard deviations and public schools by 1.38 standard deviations.

Director of Academics, Rhoda Odigboh opined that books help children navigate real learning beyond their immediate environment. She said, “Books are to education what air is to life, and reading offers children literacy, problem solving, creative and critical thinking skills as well as social awareness skills.”

Bridge is a social enterprise that believes that every child irrespective of their socio-economic situation has the right to high-quality education and works in partnership with governments, communities and teachers to ensure access to life changing education.

The Director of People at Bridge, Twiggy Ogbemudia stated that “These books will surely put great smiles on our pupils and motivate them to do even better in their studies.”The management noted that Bridge is happy to use the book fair as a platform to secure book donations that reward academic brilliance and encourage children to enjoy the pleasures of reading by providing them the opportunity to have a book of their own.