Employees of leading telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria, have called on children across the country to adopt the reading culture as it commemorates this year’s edition of the World Book Day

The World Book Day was established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on April 23, 1995, and it is set aside to carry out activities with the aim of encouraging a culture of reading in all ages.

The Airtel employees have also unveiled plans for marking the World Book Day, saying they will donate thousands of reading books to children across its Adopted primary schools in Nigeria while also hosting interactive reading sessions with the children in the schools.

The programme, which is at the instance of the company’s award-winning Employee Volunteer Scheme (Airtel EVS), will be held in primary schools in Lagos, Ogun, Kaduna, Cross River, Imo and Kwara and it is entirely funded by employees of Airtel Nigeria.

Commenting on the initiative, the Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, Airtel Nigeria, Surendran Chemmenkotil, said Airtel employees are passionate about building a solid future for children especially underprivileged kids as well as relentless in its focus in promoting continuous learning among deprived and underprivileged children.

“Knowledge is power, and books are full of it. We want children, no matter their family background or economic status, to have their imagination stimulated and to expand their understanding of the world. Indeed, Airtel hopes to inspire and uplift as much children as we can – even underprivileged ones – so that they can strive for a better future and contribute to nation building.

“Access to education is at the heart of our Sustainability strategy and I am glad that my colleagues are not just pursuing this vision at a corporate level but also at a personal level,” he said.

The initiative will kick off on Tuesday, April 26, 2022, at the Oremeji Primary School, Ajegunle, Lagos, and Yahaya Hamza Primary School, Zaria Kaduna while the train will move to the Iyeru-Okin primary school, Offa, Kwara state and Presbyterian Primary School, Cross River State on the 27th of April. The final leg of the programme will hold at St. John’s Primary School, Ogun State and Community Primary School, Amumara, Imo State on the 28th of April.

As part of the programme, Airtel employees will not only donate books but also take time off work to interact and read with all the children in the six adopted schools.

Airtel Nigeria’s Adopt-a-School programme is targeted at rehabilitating the physical structure of underserved, rural schools while providing educational resources for the children and capacity building support for teachers on an ongoing basis. The programme was launched in 2011 with the adoption of Oremeji Primary School, Ajegunle, Lagos.