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Friday, July 28, 2006
Sagay expects to be the 'Reading Capital' of NegOcc
By Danny B. Dangcalan
SAGAY City will soon become the reading capital of the region.
This is the vision of the local government and Department of Education (DepEd) officials as the city inaugurated yesterday the Library Hub, which is a joint project of the DepEd and the Sagay City Government.
Along with this innovation is the simultaneous launching of the projects "Read for Rice" and "Read Aloud", in support of "Project Read Sagay", the division's program for the national thrust "Every Child, A Reader".
DepEd Assistant Regional Director Dr. Elnora Barrios said the Library Hub will help enhance the student's interest in reading books.
Outgoing Division Superintendent of Sagay City Mildred Garay, who will transfer to Bago City Division next week, said it is not enough to teach children the strategies on how to read, we must give them something to read, thus the creation of library hub.
Garay said it is very expensive to maintain libraries per school and the launching of this library hub is a cheaper but effective answer in addressing the low reading problem in the school and the community.
Incoming Division Superintendent of Sagay City Elnora Pahunao, who is from the Iloilo City Division, shared the same point, stressing that there will be systematic borrowing of books from the library which are stored in large plastic bins.
Sagay City Mayor Leo Rafael Cuevas, who gives top priority to education in his city also launched "Project Read for Rice" yesterday and said reading will benefit everyone as literacy is an effective instrument for progress and peace in the country.
Representative Thirdy Marañon of the Second District also came to show his support to the endeavors of the DepEd in Sagay City.
The DepEd and the City Government saved on the budget of the construction of the library hub since the place is just a renovation of what used to be the old municipal hall and later Museo Pambata.
Beverly Gonda, project officer of Library Hub, disclosed that this is the second library hub in Negros, the first one is in Bacolod City Division, and to date, there are now ten hubs on pilot-operation in the country. The project targets to build at most 35 hubs nationwide.
"Bringing books to the schools nationwide" is the battlecry of the DepEd and the library hub aims to develop love and habit of reading among public school students by providing them with books on a lent-basis.
The library hub of Sagay City will be provided with 25,000 copies of storybooks from local and foreign donations, and an initial of 13,000 copies are now stocked in plastic bins in the hub.
A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed by the local government to provide the hub with furniture, equipment, computers and internet connections as well as the initial salary of hub personnel.
Meanwhile, the Project Read for Rice awards a kilo of rice to each child who must earn certain points by reading correctly some stories in the book. This awarding system though is limited and controlled, and will only cover pupils from Grades two to six from schools identified to be performing low in reading abilities, Garay said.
(July 28, 2006 issue)
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