A baboon looks warily on from behind the bushes as a tiger’s growl breaks through the clear night while a leopard comfortably assesses the situation from a safe branch up ahead.

Right opposite, the day has broken and pink flamingos are drinking from a river in which beautiful flowers float.

These scenes from the Serengeti may seem miles away, but for students at the primary school in Lija that forms part of St Theresa College, they are just down the corridor.

The walls of their new literacy room, inaugurated by the Education Minister last week, are covered in colour, with wildlife pouncing out from every corner.

Artist Joe Farrugia, who spent all his free time for the past five months painting the room for free, explained that everything on the walls is there for a reason.

The time of day gradually changes across the room from night to dawn, day to dusk. “Reading is something continuous and unrestricted by the time of day,” said Mr Farrugia, who is also the director general of the Malta Employers Association. He pointed to the tree trunk, where a bull is camouflaged by the bark, adding that more things can be discovered from the mural at closer look. “I want the children to learn not to take everything at face value.”

The mural is not the only attraction in the room. With shelves of books and colourful beanbags on the parquet floor, the space was created to transport students’ minds into a world that is only possible through imagination.

Sitting on the beanbags reading a book with a group of four-year-old boys and girls, Minister of Education, Employment and Family Dolores Cristina smiled when the children replied in English to all her questions in Maltese.

Marvelling at the work on the walls, and the efforts of all those in the school who played a part in making the project possible, Ms Cristina said: “This is the nice thing about dreams. They instil imagination and when that gets going, you end up in places you would never have dreamed of going to.”

A recent study by the National Books Council found that over 80 per cent of Maltese read, although they do not necessarily read books, the minister said. Although this was promising, she said the figure still needed to be improved.

Principal Frank Fabri pointed out that Lija's Primary School was the last to open a literacy room from the schools within St Theresa's College.