Statement by André Gaum, Western Cape Education Minister

The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) will celebrate World Book Day today (Wednesday, 23 March 2003), along with millions of fellow travelers throughout the world who believe in the importance of reading and literacy.

The WCED has written to schools, suggesting a wide range of activities for World Book Day. The department has also distributed a colourful poster, titled "Friends for Life", developed by the World Book Day Committee, to mark the day, which encourages reading.

We believe that readers are leaders. Readers discover new worlds. Readers lead us to a brighter future.

Reading is the cornerstone of learning: Without the ability to read, the learner is denied access to the world of learning. We therefore give the World Day of the Book our full support, in line with all our efforts to encourage reading in the Western Cape.

We call on all citizens, young and old, in every community, to celebrate reading on this day, and to join us in our commitment to becoming a literate, learning and well-informed society.

The WCED has suggested the following to schools:

Invite interesting speakers such as:

• A writer, an illustrator or a publisher to discuss books or the book-making process with learners.
• A well-known person from the local community to talk about the books which he/she enjoyed most as a child.
• A newly-literate adult to describe how reading miraculously changed his/her life.
• A storyteller who can tell African stories or legends.

Spread the joy of reading:

• Encourage learners to visit junior classes or primary schools and take a storybook with them so that they can each read a story to a younger learner.
• Arrange for learners to visit a home for the aged, a children's home or a hospital and present a programme of reading there. Self-made bookmarks can be distributed as mementoes of the learners' visit.
• Arrange for everyone in the school (learners, educators as well as the administrative and maintenance staff) to bring storybooks to school as gifts for schools with less-privileged learners who do not have books to read.

'Read and win' reading marathons:

• Design a sponsorship form for learners to use in finding sponsors for each page of a book (not a textbook!) which they will read on 23 April or during that whole week.
• Use the proceeds to buy book prizes for the winners as well as new books for the school library or class collections.
• Challenge the learners to read at least a predetermined number of pages.

Reading together creates unity:

• Send out a circular to parents to inform them of the World Book Day projects and other projects throughout that week, and ask for their co-operation.
• Request parents to read to their children every evening.

The WCED has developed a comprehensive Literacy Strategy to develop literacy skills across the board in our schools in the province. World Book Day will provide an opportunity to reflect again on the objectives of this strategy, and to focus our attention once again on becoming a reading society.