Celebrating world literacy day

Celebrating literacy and peace is all part of International Literacy Day that takes place this Saturday.

Schools across the country are encouraging literacy over the next two weeks with a number of events to inspire reading in their students.

Avarua School has combined their study of Olympics with literacy week, to have a full week of celebrations. This has included oral presentations by students, a display in the library on their adopted Olympic country, and a dress up day as either a book character or their Olympic countries colours.

For Apii Te Uki Ou, celebrations take the form of their annual book swap and the opportunity for students to swap their school uniform for dress ups. Students are encouraged to bring in any books from home that they wish to swap over the next week.

On Friday 14 September, when the school is celebrating literacy day, they will then be able to choose new books to take home, and to dress up as their favourite book character.

Students at Tereora College will be creating a poster of their favourite book character this week, along with other daily events. The posters will be exhibited in the library and prizes awarded on next Thursday, which is Roald Dahl day.

For over 40 years now, UNESCO has been celebrating International Literacy Day, by reminding the international community that literacy is a human right and the foundation of all learning.

This year’s theme highlights the contribution literacy makes to peace by bringing people closer to attaining individual freedom, better understanding the world and resolving conflict.