10 lakh kids take part in reading campaign on eve of Literacy Day

NEW DELHI: On the eve of International Literacy Day on September 8, over 10 lakh children across nine states took part in a Read-a-Thon organized to promote a culture of reading among children.As part of the Read-A-Thon, held on September 7, children in the nine states spent an hour reading; teachers, education officials, parents and government officers also joined these reading sessions at many places.The nine states included Delhi, Uttarakhand, Chattisgarh, UP, Rajasthan, Telengana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.In Delhi, 200 government schools and 277 MCD schools participated in the programme, organised by NGO Room To Read.Welcoming the initiative, Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat said, “A room without a book like a house without windows. I would like to appeal to all children to read good books. If you don't have books, visit libraries, borrow books from your friends and teachers. Let's make this reading campaign successful." State education minister Arvind Pandey said, “I appeal to all the children of the state to make friends with books and give importance to books in your daily life”.“Getting children hooked on to books sets them up on a path of continuous learning and future success,” said Sourav Banerjee, Country Director of Room to Read.Over 30 crore people in India are illiterate. Even among the over 13 crore children in primary schools, more than half of them are not able to read and write properly, adding to the challenge of eradicating illiteracy. The draft National Education Policy has termed this a “learning crisis”.The Read-a-thon was aimed at galvanising popular support for reading. On the occasion, Room to Read also launched the #PledgeReadingTime initiative. Through this, people are being requested to pledge time for reading out to children in their family, neighborhoods and community; post pictures of their reading on social media pages; and challenge three more people to take the reading pledge. The objective is to spread the word and encourage more and more people to join the reading campaign.