The power of literacy lies not just in the ability to read and write, but rather in a person’s capacity to apply these skills to effectively connect, interpret and discern the intricacies of the world in which they live. Literacy is the foundation on which all learning rests and without it, young people are unable to gain a good education, earn a living or become productive members of society. As such, we are particularly passionate about creating and deploying literacy enhancement programs to increase the reading, writing and communication skills of children at our youth centers and outreach sites. These programs include:

BOOKS ON WHEEL
Executing Literacy projects is at the heart of the Foundation’s programs implemented by the Education unit. These projects aim to reduce the gap and shortcomings that exist in the quality of education available to different socio-economic strata in our society. ‘Books On Wheels’ (BOW) is a community integrated literacy enhancement initiative. BOW is an intervention that seeks to improves literacy skills among primary school children by developing their reading interests, enthusiasm and improving their vocabulary through providing short story books for these children to access and read in a controlled environment with supervision by a BOW specialist Book on Wheels (BOW) simply put is ‘reading wherever you are’. It is a mobile reading activity that involves taking short story books written by local authors to children in public primary schools.
The “Books on Wheels” project has reached 1222 pupils in 14 schools across Delta and Lagos State. Through this project, the Foundation partnered with Bacardi Martini Nig. Limited in 2018 to donate 500 subject books to Okun-Ajah Primary School Library. The Foundation has also created opportunities for talented young Nigerians with its leadership and career development programmes, as well as scholarship support for children from economically challenged backgrounds.

 

 

LAFARGE AFRICA NATIONAL LITERACY COMPETITION
The competition is a celebration of the successes achieved with the “Books on Wheels” project, a literacy enhancement initiative that improved, Reading, Writing and Spelling skills of beneficiaries. The maiden edition was piloted in three geo-political zones (North East, South-South and South West), centre of Lafarge’s production plants. However, the scope for subsequent editions of the competition was expanded to cover the six geo political zones in Nigeria. This is to achieve Lafarge Africa and Ovie Brume Foundation’s objective of driving socio economic development of the country across the 6 geopolitical zones of the country.
The National Literacy competition allows students of the same age range to compete against each other in a series of pre- determined literacy skills improvement activities. This exposes them to challenges that further enhance their language and vocabulary skills. This challenge starts from the local government level to the senatorial zones, to the state level then regional level and finally to the national level. The suspense and emotions in the contest reflect as those in any reality/game show. The competition presented platforms to raise the standard of English Language in our Nigerian public primary schools. The competition is double edged, as it is entertaining and educative. The Overall goal of the Literacy competition is to enhance the literacy skills (Reading, Writing, Pronunciation and Spelling) of participants and disseminate information on the poor state of literacy in Nigerian schools to relevant stakeholders.

The competition which is currently in its sixth year has reached over 200.000 pupils in 3000 schools across the federation since its inception. Winners from each geo-political zone annually are awarded Scholarship.

AFTER SCHOOL CLASSES
The After-School classes is designed to enhance public school pupil’s literacy, numeracy and general knowledge. The classes hold every day at our Youth Centres (Delta and Lagos) These classes are facilitated by volunteers These classes are attuned with the Nigerian curriculum and bridge the gap of fallen standards in the quality of education delivered in the public-school system. The following classes are held at our Youth Centres:

1. Numeracy Session: The objective of the sessions is to help improve pupils’ calculations and problem-solving skills. The Pupils solved problems involving, Division, odd and even numbers, counting in words, subtraction
2. Book Club Sessions: The objective of the Book Club Sessions is to build reading, writing, spelling, communication, comprehension skills and inspire reading interests and enthusiasm among children.
3. Phonics Session: The objective of the session is to enable the pupils learn letter sounds in order to enable them blend sounds to read the word and spell correctly.
4. Creative Writing Session: The objective of this session is to enable the pupils to use their imagination when writing.
5. Games: the objective of the session is to enhance the critical thinking, problem solving skills of the pupils. Also, the game session is targeted at fostering bonding amongst the pupils.