Make the Children Read: Participatory Rural Approach in School Libraries in Umueri, Nigeria.

School library is desirable because it provides a wide range of reading and multimedia resources. The essence is to support teaching and learning, fostering reading culture and lifelong learning. The rural schools and the children are part of this proposition. It also behooves on the rural dwellers to participate and contribute in community development to ensure learning and literacy sustainability. This study examines the rural school libraries with regards to participatory rural appraisal for community driven development. It is a qualitative study that involved physical assessment of rural schools with community based monitors. Techniques for data collection were focus group discussion, key informant interview and discussions in community groups. It was discovered that out of twelve government primary and secondary schools that only two has small spaces created for library. The participatory approach devised means of community contribution which created result in book donations. These were distributed to all the rural schools in the community. It was recommended that duty bearers and school board should provide library facilities in the rural schools just as in urban schools. Communities should also drive their own development to promote literacy for their children and sustainability