NAN-ELS-1
Libraries
By Justina David Auta
Abuja, Dec. 15, 2016 (NAN) Some residents the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Thursday appealed to the Federal Government to upgrade public libraries with e-books to improve education standard in the country.
The residents, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, attributed the low patronage of public libraries to inadequate materials to impact knowledge on people.
Miss Precious Danboyi, an undergraduate said that the books and other study materials in most public libraries were obsolete and do not carter to the needs of the modern way of education.
“Most of the books in the libraries are old, even though they can be used as reference materials, but they do not capture the modern thoughts and ways of education,’’ she said.
Hamisu Ibrahim, a student at the Federal College of Education, Zuba, said inadequate research materials in public libraries had contributed immensely to the poor standard of education.
“If the government is really serious about improving education standard, they need to upgrade the books and other materials in public libraries because that is the only place the underprivileged persons get access to free books to study,’’ Ibrahim said.
Mr Emmanuel Hezekiah, a worker with an NGO added that a well equipped library would also encourage reading culture, especially among teenagers.
“When a library is fully equipped with materials to carter for needs of students, the zeal to read will increase especially for teenagers.’’
Hezekiah also stressed the need for parents to encourage their children to register in public libraries to enable them get access to books that may not be available in their schools.
Mrs Patience David, a teacher, said inadequate materials in public libraries had also contributed to plagiarism, as people go online to download other people’s work without doing any research.
“Some students no longer see the need to carry out research on their own.
“They prefer to go online and download other people’s work and claim it is theirs when they are given any assignment or for their projects,’’ she said.
She appealed to the authorities to equip libraries with all the study materials needed to improve quality of education which would be felt in all the sectors for development.
David also encouraged members of the public and NGOs to also support the government by donating books and other materials to libraries.
“We shouldn’t leave everything for the government alone. We can also support by donating books to libraries,’’ he said. (NAN)
JAD/TO/EEE
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Edited by Tola Okinbaloye/Ese E. Ekama