National Day celebration to encourage reading kicks off in Homs

Homs, (ST)-The cultural center in Homs launched today the eighth celebration of the National Day for the Encouragement of Reading under the title “My Book is My Window of Letter and Color”.

The activities of the first day of the celebration held by the Ministry of Culture and the Homs Culture Directorate included reading stories written by children of the “Let’s Read Together” team, poetic debates and a play for children highlighting the importance of reading, in addition to awareness sessions presented by the Youth Volunteer Team.

In a statement to SANA, Malak Yassin, Director of Children’s Culture at the Ministry, said that the celebration is a result of the encouragement of reading project, which was launched by the Ministry of Culture at the beginning of this year in eight governorates in cooperation with the Regional Center for Early Childhood.

She pointed out that during this year stories, booklets and articles by the children of martyrs and children with disabilities were printed within the framework of this occasion.

Rola Hassan, founder of the “Friends of the Book” forum in Homs, talked about the participation of the “Let’s Read Together” team in the celebration through presenting a group of stories that children have created by themselves in addition to reading poems that tell about the greatness of Damascus and its glorious history.

A number of the girls of Badr Harfoush School gave a poetic debate that included many unforgettable poems from ancient poetry.

Participants in the activities believe that the celebration of the National Day for Encouragement of Reading demonstrates the importance of returning to the book and showing more interest in reading, as social media and electronic games have kept many children away from reading.

Regarding the participation of the Youth Volunteer Team in the celebration, Ziad Makdisi explained that the team presented two theatrical performances, one entitled “Shahrazad and Shahryar” and the other entitled “Youth Café”, through which the importance and benefits of reading were highlighted.

Amal Farhat