By Charmaine Boois
Copyright namibian
The Hardap Regional Readathon is currently under way at PI Groenewaldt Junior Secondary School at Gochas.
The event by the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture is led through the Namibia Library and Archives Service. It began on Monday and will run until Friday.
This year, the readathon is being celebrated under the theme ‘Read Namibia: Break the Silence, Build Minds – Focus on Mental Wellness’.
The Hardap regional director for education, Lewin Paulus, said the annual readathon is not just a celebration of books, but is part of efforts to strengthen literacy and numeracy at all levels of learning.
“It is a week-long event filled with reading activities, competitions, discussions and community engagement, all aiming to promote a reading culture, especially among our children,” he said.
The Gochas event drew pupils and teachers from across the region for a week of reading activities with the aim of promoting a culture of literacy.
Mbumba Haitengela, executive director in the education ministry, said it is important to ensure that all Namibian children have access to reading materials.
“We must lobby for the proper resourcing of school libraries to ensure they are not just rooms with books, but vibrant learning hubs that promote wellness, creativity and academic excellence,” Haitengela said
The readathon was first launched in 1988 by the Namibian Children Book Forum to address the lack of books in many homes.
Kathleen Gowases, the Hardap region’s chief librarian, provided a brief history of the event.
“The first readathon was held on 12 October 1988 with over 13 000 learners participating. It became an annual event from 1992, though celebrations were suspended in 1990 and 1991 due to logistical challenges,” said Gowases.
She added that the Covid-19 pandemic also disrupted the event from 2020 to 2022
The readerthon moves to a different town or village each year, bringing together pupils from various parts of Hardap to participate in activities like book readings, storytelling, poetry writing and drama performances. – Nampa, with additional reporting from The Namibian
