DepEd hopes to rekindle interest in reading

Education Secretary Armin Luistro. INQUIRER file photo

The Department of Education (DepEd) is hoping to bring back the interest of school children in reading instead of them spending too much time on the Internet.

DepEd has declared November as the National Reading Month and has urged schools and learning institutions to conduct a month-long reading program to revive the youth’s interest in the printed word.

In a memorandum issued this week, Education Secretary Armin Luistro ordered school officials to conduct various reading activities in schools and other learning facilities, among them a Read-a-Thon, “Drop Everything and Read (Dear)” and remedial reading classes for children.

The program is part of DepEd’s move to institutionalize the national “Every Child a Reader” program, Luistro said in his Memorandum No. 244.

“DepEd is initiating programs that would promote reading and literacy among the pupils and students, motivate our youth to learn from the lives and works of eminent Filipinos, uphold one’s own heritage and values and make reading a shared physical experience,” said Luistro in his memo.

He said the program was meant to make reading relevant again to the youth “amidst the growing reliance on the Internet and inclination to online activities.”

Among activities DepEd lined up for November are the Read-a-Thon, which aims to discover outstanding readers in class; the Dear program, which engages students in 15 to 20 minutes of reading daily; and the shared reading or readers’ mentoring program, where older students are encouraged to assist younger readers with reading difficulties.

The National Reading Month also urges schools to hold vocabulary and “A Paragraph A Day” sessions, where students learn one new word a day and read aloud one or two paragraphs every day to boost their speaking skills.

DepEd has also called on schools to conduct reading camps “to highlight the pupils’ talents in communication arts through competitions,” storytelling sessions and other readership development activities.

“Schools are recommended to partner with nongovernment organizations and the private sector to foster cooperation within the community and optimize the success of these activities,” Luistro said in his memo.