Parents and guardians of school pupils in rural areas have been urged to desist from interfering in the school attendance of their wards in primary and secondary schools. This was the recurring message by speakers at the annual reading promotion organized by Plat Technologies Limited, an IT solutions company and Iqra Books which is into both online and physical books marketing. Both companies are based in Ilorin. This year's events took place at the Ilota-Apaola Junior Secondary in Ilorin South Local Government area of Kwara State.
Speaking at the events to group of school pupils drawn from Ilota-Apaola Junior Secondary, Junior Secondary School, Omode, Junior Secondary, Fufu and Senior Secondary School, Omode, the Chairman, Governing Council, College of Education, Ilorin, Alhaji Abdulraheem Aremu Olota, told the parents that the habits of disrupting school attendance of their wards by sending them to farm and markets is capable of truncating meaningful life of their wards later in life. On the part of the pupils, Alhaji Olota urged them to take advantage of the gesture of promoting reading culture being championed by PlatTechnologies and Iqra Books. This, he said, can be demonstrated if the pupils read the books donated by the companies both for academic and leisure.
The book reading event comprised of two sessions. The first reading session was led by Engineer Taofik Abdulkareem, the CEO, Plat Technologies. He stimulated the pupils' interest by making the session interactive through asking questions on each paragraph. The second session was led by Miss Oluwasey who read from a book she authored with the title, I have a Dream. In between the two reading sessions was a film show on the incredible surgical operation performed by Dr. Ben Carson on a conjoined twins in America. The theme in both the reading sessions and the film show is to inspire the students to have aspirations and refused to be deterred or distracted due to challenges of life.
Also speaking at the events were the Principal of the Ilota-Apaola Junior Secondary, Junior Secondary School, Mrs G.B. Malomo, the Branch Head, National Library, Ilorin, Hajia Kafayah Olani and Dr Oba Abdulkadir Laaro of the Department of Mass Communication, Unilorin who coordinated the events.
On her part the Principal of the Ilota-Apaola Junior Secondary, Mrs G.B. Malomo, thanked the organizers of the book reading for chosing her school. She promised that the school would live up to the billing of the organizers by making good use of the books donated to the school. Hajia Olani specifically directed her speech to the parents. She highlighted the importance of the sacrifice on their parts by refusing the temptation of sending their wards to the farms and markets instead of supporting them in their studies. This practice, she maintained, has been identified as the most negative behaviors' of rural dwellers towards education of their wards. In his own contributions, Dr Laaro called attention to cultivating reading habits right from primary and secondary so as to build solid foundation for future educational endeavours.
Highlights of the occasion was the presentation of a sets of text books on essential subjects including Literature In English, Mathematics, Yoruba Language, English Language, Basic Sciences and Dictionaries. The presentation of the books by the Chairman, Governing Council, College of Education, Ilorin, Alhaji Abdulraheem Aremu Olota, was witnessed by the Olota of Ilota, Alhaji Momonuhu, Ayinla, the Baale of Apaola, Mallam Abdulraheem Zubair Aremu, teachers from other schools, parents and some old students of the school.
At the close of the events, the CEO of Iqra Books, Mallam Abdulateef Bolaji thanked everyone that graced the occasion. He impressed on school administrators to partner with Plat Technologies and Iqra books in their efforts to promote reading culture. He said the companies will be looking forward to such collaborations from interested schools across the state. He revealed that Iqra Books and Plat Technologies have been involved in supporting educational institutions which include book reading sessions held at Ansarul Islam Scondary School, Ogidi, Ilorin, Queen Elizabeth Secondary School, Ilorin amongst others. These efforts were taken further levels by the companies when in 2014 they rehabilitated and stocked the Library of the College of Education Model Secondary School, Ilorin. There is also a monthly book reading session for adults usually held at Iqra Books, Tanke Junction in Ilorin. Both companies can be reached online via,
www.platgroupng.com,
www.iqrabooks.com.ng 
