Reading is now a compulsory subject in all Ogun State public schools. This groundbreaking achievement comes after years of unrelenting advocacy by The SixthSense Initiative, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that is pioneering the restoration of reading habit in the general populace.

Speaking on this landmark breakthrough, the Founder and Coordinator of The SixthSense Initiative, a literacy advocacy group, Chief Abiodun Lasile, said: “Before I started writing in 2015, I had created a path to navigate with a careful conceptualisation of literacy advocacy. I wrote 23 manuscripts, finalised six titles and published four books within six months. The four books were presented to the MoEST Evaluation and Curriculum and three books out of four titles were approved for examination and reading. SUBEB, UBEC and NERDC also recognised the books with different certifications.

“Having conquered a huddle of publications that’s the mirth of being a published author, I launched the literacy advocacy in 2017 with SixthSense Children Reading Competition Programme and Summer Children Reading Camp a year after and many more till date. I had four clear pointers towards the direction to pursue the literacy journey tagged Our Charge; Government, School, Parent and SixthSense. We were focused on our objectives at takeoff without confusion to these society strata. Abinitio, it looked like an onerous task, some academia didn’t believe it but we sustained the advocacy with ten (10) programmes and concepts.

“We pushed hard for over a decade… The unbelievable is now a reality. Reading is now a subject in our schools in Ogun State!”

Lasile, who is also Chairman of Association of Nigerian Authors (Ogun Chapter) and Orunto Baalufe of Owu Kingdom, Abeokuta, expressed gratitude to all stakeholders for their support. This milestone marks a significant step towards transforming education in Ogun State. (The Guardian)