Several hands onboard for Nat'l Reading Week

Nadisha Hunter, Staff Reporter

"Hey, we have to!" Lady Allen, wife of the governor general said excitedly, arousing the attention of the grade 5P students at New Providence Primary School in St Andrew, as she related the story of 'The curse of a Snake Island' from the book, Pirate School.

She slowly pronounced the words with matching facial expressions, giving the attentive audience a chance to fully understanding the story.

This was the scene at the institution on Monday during the launch of the GraceKennedy Limited and Western Union's National Reading Week, under the theme, 'Today's Readers, Tomorrow's Leaders'.

Students had the privilege of having individuals from various sectors visiting their school to read to them from a number of exciting books.

a lifelong habit

This included Douglas Orane, chairman and CEO of GraceKennedy, Dr St Aubyn Bartlett, member of parliament, André Hylton, Eastern St Andrew caretaker, and a number of media personalities.

Earlier at the ceremony which marked the launch of the programme, Lady Allen urged the students to make reading a lifelong habit.

"The theme reminds us that reading is very critical to our nation's development as it is through reading that we are able to engage in meaningful discourse. The more children are involved in reading the better their ability is to solve problems and to be more analytical," she said.

Olga Robinson Clarke, principal of the institution, said she felt privileged to host the launch of the National Reading Week programme.

She said the students would benefit from the timely initiative.

Orane said the GraceKennedy team was fully supportive of the plan by the transformation team at the Ministry of Education to end illiteracy in schools by 2015.

"The minister's public announcement that aims to achieve 100 per cent literacy at the primary level of education over the next five years, and that no child will enter secondary school without being able to read, is one which Jamaica needs not only to hear, but to act on," he argued.

Throughout the week, employees of the GraceKennedy Ltd will visit a school from each parish to engage students in reading.

A team will also visit and read to children at the Salvation Army School for the Blind and Danny Williams School for the Deaf.