It is the middle of the semester and the number of students going
to the library has increased drastically. According to the security personnel
at the entrance to the library the number of students has increased from as
less as 150 to over 500 students utilising the library every day. He said, “During
the CATS time and the examination time the number increases tremendously”. The number of students who visit the library
to satisfy their academic thirst is likely to be higher as from now till the end
of the semester. In fact at such a time there are very high chances that you
will miss a chair if you go to the library. The demand for reading becomes high
than what the library can support. At such a time lights in the hostels are
most likely to be switched of, if at all they have to be, late in the night as
late as 2 am. Others will wake up very early as early as 4 am to suck from the
breasts of knowledge.
Poor reading culture in the African continent is one of the
reasons why we are ever a developing nation. Students only engage in serious
studies when there is an exam or a CAT. Group discussions are only carried out
when the students are given an assignment. Those who read they only read for
the sake of the exams and not to increase their knowledge.
We still have a long way to go as Africans in terms of
developing a reading culture among the intellects and academicians. We need to develop and sustain a culture
where people read even when they are not under pressure to do so. Unless we develop a reading culture our
universities and institutions of learning will remain like the towers of Babel charged
with the responsibility of pumping knowledge to the students.
There is a lot of laxity amongst the students in the universities indeed. We also have the poorest reading culture that allows us to read for exams instead of gaining Knowledge and wisdom. if something is to be done to boost it, then it is better to do it in this generation of information society. If i it is not done, then, i pity the future generation.
ReplyDeletewe are the controllers and determiners of our future. Thanks to the internet technology at least the cost of study is cheaper in this century than any other century.
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