Room to Read hosts ‘Read Books. Dream Big’ campaign to celebrate Literacy Day

In celebration of International Literacy Day on 8 September, Room to Read Sri Lanka is proud to host the ‘Read Books. Dream Big’ campaign for the third consecutive year. Originally launched in 2022 across various provinces, the campaign has grown significantly over the past two years. Last year, it reached over 5,000 children, 100 primary school teachers, and 1,000 parents. This year, the campaign will be conducted in Western, Central, and North-Central provinces of Sri Lanka.

The primary goal of this campaign is to encourage a habit of reading among children outside of Room to Read’s dedicated programs. Leveraging storybooks published by Room to Read in local languages, the organisation’s trained Literacy Program staff conduct a series of read-aloud sessions for students in non-Room to Read schools. The campaign kicked off in late August and will run through mid-September.

The organisation will also conduct workshops to Government teachers on effective library management and strategies for fostering a lifelong love of reading, as implemented in its regular Literacy Program. Additionally, it will support parents in understanding the importance of cultivating early reading habits and guide them on how to conduct effective reading activities at home.

Room to Read is a global non-profit organisation that helps to transform the lives of millions of children around the world through literacy and gender equality. It envisions a world in which all children can pursue a quality education that prepares them to lead fulfilled lives, making positive change in their families, communities and the world. The organisation achieves this goal by working together with Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Education, partner organisations, parents and communities to deliver positive outcomes for children at scale.

Room to Read first launched its Literacy Program in Sri Lanka in 2005, one year earlier than planned in response to the devastating 2004 tsunami. There onwards, they expanded the program to facilitate children in seven of the country’s nine provinces. Since then, it has seen significant success in expanding the accessibility of quality education, to more than a million children and youth across the country. Room to Read’s innovative Literacy program ensures that primary schools had libraries filled with books in children’s local languages, and teachers and librarians trained on how to engage a classroom of eager, young learners. To help address the shortage of children’s books in developing countries like Sri Lanka, Room to Read has published children’s books in local languages, collaborating with local writers and illustrators. These culturally relevant stories aim to help children learn their mother tongue more quickly while fostering a lifelong reading habit among primary school students. This initiative also contributes to the growth of the local publishing industry.

Commenting on the campaign now in its third year, Room to Read Sri Lanka Country Director Shevanthi Jayasuriya said, “It’s truly inspiring to see the ongoing success of this initiative. Our goal is to expand our impact beyond program schools by sharing the joy of reading through read-aloud sessions with our books, instilling a love of reading in even more children. The steadfast support from teachers and parents has been incredibly heartening.”

Currently, Room to Read Sri Lanka’s Literacy Program is conducting several scale-up initiatives with the Government to establish meaningful ways of helping children in primary education develop and lifelong habit of reading. One of the activities is partnering with the Ministry of Education to expand the Government’s ‘Reading Room’ initiative. Room to Read is contributing technical expertise from its Literacy Program to enhance the effectiveness of these Reading Rooms. Earlier, Room to Read provided technical expertise to develop a reading room manual for training purposes. Currently, Room to Read is assisting the Ministry in conducting Training of Trainers (ToTs) at both national and sub-national levels. These ToTs will train master trainers, including teacher educators and education administrators, using the new manual on reading development. These master trainers will, in turn, train librarians and teachers in schools across the country using a cascade training model.

Additionally, Room to Read Sri Lanka’s National Consortium of Children’s Books (NCCB) initiative, launched in collaboration with the Ministry of Education to establish national standards for children’s storybooks, is making significant strides. In 2023, Room to Read joined forces with the Ministry of Education to establish standards for creating children’s storybooks in Sri Lanka. The Consortium aims to develop guidelines for manuscript writing, illustration, design, and editing with support from the Ministry and other publishers. Through this initiative, Room to Read seeks to bolster the publishing industry by providing training to writers, illustrators, designers, and editors, fostering the production of high-quality children’s books in Sri Lanka.

Furthermore, Room to Read Sri Lanka has partnered with the Ministry of Education to enhance the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) tools used to evaluate the reading proficiency of Grade 1 and 2 students in Sinhala and Tamil. This collaboration leverages the organisation’s technical expertise to address key literacy challenges in primary education. Additionally, Room to Read has expanded its Literacy Program to preschools, starting in the Central Province, to improve oral reading skills in both Sinhala and Tamil mediums. A total of 50 preschool teachers received training on oral reading development, book selection, and read-aloud activities so far.

Globally, Room to Read has impacted the lives of over 45 million children across 24 countries. Currently, 9.9 million active children are benefitted through its Literacy Program, with over 2.7 million new books distributed to provide young readers access to high-quality children’s books. Additionally, 72,531 educators have been trained to help primary school students develop reading comprehension skills and foster a lifelong love of reading. Room to Read is committed to breaking the cycle of childhood illiteracy and poverty within a single generation.

Now, you too can access storybooks published by Room to Read via Literacy Cloud and help your children develop a lifelong love of reading.