Today people across the world are celebrating World Book and Copyright Day.
April 23 was declared World Book Day (WBD) in 1995 in the UNESCO conference held in Paris.
It is not only meant to celebrate books and authors but also to encourage people especially young ones to get in to the habit of reading.
In South Africa, the celebration of this day is usually coordinated by the National Library. Mandated to promote a culture of reading, writing and publishing in all local languages.
Other organisations and book stores usually join in on the celebrations by making books easily accessible to South Africans especially children.
One of the book stores which joined in on the celebrations is Van Schaik.
The book store visited Winnie Ngwekazi Primary School yesterday for a reading session with pupils.
Molefe Ntsepe and Dinah Madiwane from Van Schaik Book Store Maponya Mall were driving the initiative.
Before donating books and stationery, they gave motivational talks to pupils about issues affecting them such as drugs and alcohol.
Pupils had to share their thoughts about issues such as xenophobia before taking to the stage for story reading.
Madiwane said they as Van Schaik are on a mission to promote a culture of reading among young children.
“We have to give back to the communities which support us by doing initiatives like these,” said Madiwane.
She said donating books and stationery was not enough that is why they had to engage pupils on social issues affecting the country hence they spoke about xenophobia.
Madiwane dismissed the notion that black people don’t read.
She said they do read but the problem is that the number of blacks who drink is higher than the number of them who read.
“The challenge we have now is to get more black people reading and less of them drinking.”
Deputy Principal Bhekisisa Radebe thanked Van Schaik for the initiative and said it adds to the already booming culture of reading in the school.
He said every Thursday is reading day in the school.
“Pupils are always looking forward to Thursdays and we wish this habit of reading can be passed on to other schools,” said Radebe.
The theme for this year’s WBD in this country is, “Come read with me” calling all South Africans to come together and share the pleasure of reading.
