By Niranjan Narsing Khatri | Executive Director
Recently, we celebrated the culminating event of our read-aloud teacher training program, a book festival that attracted 230 students, 50 teachers and more than 100 parents from the seven schools participating in the training.
In addition, 25 local political leaders and representatives from 50 neighboring community (or "public") schools attended the festival, held in Shera Bagar of Shivapuri rural municipality in Nuwakot District.
The purpose of the festival is not only to promote reading habits in children but also to give parents and community members an opportunity to visit the schools and learn more about the value of reading aloud with children.
Discovering a new book can be a joy for readers of all ages, especially children. Research shows that classroom read-aloud and independent reading are the most significant predictors of future academic success for children. We want to spread the excitement and positive impact of books and reading to children in rural Nepal, who often do not have access to books.
During the festival, teacher trainers from our partner organization, Kakshyalaya, conducted sessions on book-making and illustration with children. We also conducted a brainstorming session with some students about bees as we plan to make beekeeping a part of the curriculum this year.
The goal of our training program is to encourage teachers to read aloud to their students, improve child literacy and increase awareness of Nepali children’s literature in schools. At the festival, we publicly recognize the teachers who have completed the training.
In Nepal, it’s not a common practice to read aloud to children in class; we encourage teachers to do so (and for parents to try it at home). We also provide books, book racks and low reading tables so that schools can create reading corners for students in first through fifth grades. Teachers tell us that many students spend their spare time with their favorite books in the reading corners. This reinforces the idea that all children enjoy reading; they just need access to books and a place to engage with them.
Thank you for your support in helping us to share the tradition of reading to children.
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