PORT HARCOURT WORLD BOOK CAPITAL SET TO BOOST HUMAN CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT.

PORT HARCOURT WORLD BOOK CAPITAL SET TO BOOST HUMAN CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT.

PORT HARCOURT WORLD BOOK CAPITAL SET TO BOOST HUMAN CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT.

The Port Harcourt World Book Capital (PHWBC) 2014 project is set to boost human capital development in Nigeria, and the sub Saharan Africa, as The Reading Tree and Book Clubs, some of the programmes lined up for the project year tenure commenced with an official briefing, which had school teachers and principals from about 100 schools from Port Harcourt and its environs in attendance.

The Reading Tree, a weekly graded reading programme is designed for primary schools to improve the literacy rate of the students, as well as their reading, writing and publishing skills. Participating students are billed to be rewarded based on their progression from a 44 reading level grading, through cognitive assessment based on knowledge, word reading, reading accuracy, fluency, listening comprehension and reading comprehension.

Speaking at the briefing, Mrs. Kalango, Founder of Rainbow Foundation and project director, Port Harcourt World Book Capital 2014, stated that the Rainbow Book Club is aimed at promoting reading for development of society, she highlighted that the Reading Tree programme is expected to run in 50 primary schools, where carefully selected books ranging from timeless classics to African folk tales will be read, while the Book Clubs designed for secondary schools will run alongside to compliment the Reading Tree.

Commenting on the organization of Reading Tree and Book Clubs programmes, Mrs Kalango noted that the entire structure was vetted by Rivers Ministry of Education and Directorate of Quality Assurance, while the book selection process were graded by publishers.

The Reading Tree (for primary school students) and Book Clubs (for the secondary school students) is planned to create, cultivate and promote reading culture among children, the programme is also expected to impart positively on their verbal and literary skills, while fostering friendship and team spirit among students.

Participating schools, will at the end of the programme, have functional and robust libraries in place, these and other supporting spaces will serve as meeting points for book club members, while the teachers and principals will experience high level capacity building as facilitators for the Reading Tree and Book Clubs.

A total of one thousand five hundred (1,500) students across Rivers state are billed to participate in the programmes, with a maximum of thirty (30) pupils from each of the fifty (50) schools in the Reading Tree, while same figure is expected for the Book Club in secondary schools.

Rainbow Foundation is one of the continent’s leading non-profit organizations, with the vision to shape tomorrow’s Africa through education based on wholesome values that would build strong individuals, families and nations for integrity, peace and prosperity.

The organization achieves its aims via the RAINBOW BOOK CLUB, that promotes reading for development of society, RAINBOW LIBRARIES, which undertakes the setting up libraries where needed for maximum impact particularly for children and youth, RAINBOW SCHOLARSHIPS, that take on sponsoring education for indigent children and youth and RAINBOW MENTORS aimed at shaping young people through interactions with individuals who act as role models.