Bank Windhoek has pledged its support towards the annual One Book, One Child nationwide reading campaign that is to be launched in July 2020.
The reading campaign is conceptualised by the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture (MOEAC), through the Directorate Namibia Library and Archives Services and aims to engage the entire country in fostering a reading culture for personal advancement and national development, especially in primary schools.
According to a statement issued by the bank on Wednesday, Bank Windhoek’s support will be used by the initiative to purchase fiction and non-fiction reading material in support of literacy enhancement.
All primary school children, from pre-primary to grade seven, are expected to participate in the One Book, One Child reading campaign.
It explained that participants will be taught and evaluated based on parameters such as the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality III report, MOEAC National Standards test results and the Education Library Services Annual School library report questionnaires.
The statement said for the project to achieve its objectives, a variety of fiction and non-fiction books still need to be acquired for learners to have an extensive selection of books, which they can read for leisure as well as enhance their reading skills.
“The collection will be in all local Namibian languages,” it added.
It further noted that one of the many benefits of having a reading culture is that it contributes to national literacy, which empowers communities to educate themselves.
“Information gives them the ability to make informed decisions. Education and literacy is one of the bank’s core social investment strategies and as a result, we support this initiative as a way to add value in the communities where we operate,” it said.