ACQUISITION OF READING ABILITY BY PRIMARY SCHOOL PUPILS IN NIGERIA: STAKEHOLDERS’ ROLE
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Abstract
Reading is essential for success in the complex knowledge-based world of today. The ability to read is highly valued and important for personal and social well being of an individual as well as that of the economy of a nation. There can be no learning without reading ability. Therefore, it is important for school children to acquire the essentials of reading. However, the ability to read is not acquired in one day. Each new skill builds on the mastery of previously learned skills for reading ability to take place. This process makes it very difficult for children to acquire the skill of reading without appropriate and adequate guidance. Thus, despite the importance of reading ability to pupils, it is evident that most school children cannot read, or read well. Therefore, there is a dare need for serious guidance of children from home and school, if they must acquire this very important skill, which depends also on how aware stakeholders are of their roles in this endeavor. Thus, this paper sought to show the importance of reading; x-rays the current situation as far as the level of primary school pupils’ reading ability is concerned, and highlights the roles of the home, school and government as stakeholders in the quest for improvement on elementary school pupils’ acquisition of reading ability. It is believed that if every stakeholder is aware and plays the role required, then, the low level of reading ability among primary school pupils would have been curbed to the barest minimum.
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