Masisi to open readers' conference

GOTHATAONE MOENG
Staff Writer | Friday June 3, 2011 00:00

Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mokgweetsi Masisi, will officially open the conference, which is scheduled for July 11-14 in Gaborone.

The Pan African Reading for All is the most prestigious and largest literacy conference in Africa and, every two years, brings together teachers, publishers, writers and policy makers to share best practices and experiences in the education and literacy fields.

Objectives for the conference include to 'interrogate a range of approaches to literacy that promote reading in families and to facilitate the setting up of rural libraries,' according to a press release from RAB.  Organisers also hope to consider how reading and writing can be used to 'effectively open up social futures across Africa'.

Meanwhile, in an effort to foster a reading culture among children of school-going-age, the RAB and the Writers Association of Botswana (WABO) are running a national Read-a-Thon competition.  The Read-a-Thon will award primary and secondary school students who have read the most books within the stipulated reading period, which began on May and will end June 24.

Winning readers will be awarded cash prizes - P1,  000 first prize, P500 for runner-up and P300 for the third - as well as a parcel of books, at a prize giving ceremony during the official opening of the conference.  Entry forms for the Read-a-Thon are available from a local weekly, and should reach the organisers before July 5 to qualify. 

Teachers and guardians are expected to sign to verify that the student has read the number of books they claim to have read.