The Tribune

By KORTNEY RODGERS

THE Rotary Club made donations to two New Providence schools to mark International Literacy Day yesterday.

The organisation contributed to the improvement of literary skills of children in the Bahamas by donating more than 60 books to Sadie Curtis Primary School and 24 dictionaries to the Carlton E Francis School Book Club.

“We are dedicated to the enhancement of the community in which we serve,” Delric Beneby, president of The Rotary Club of West Nassau, told The Tribune. “The school advised us on which books were needed based on the curriculum and we used some of the funds from fund-raising to give back to the community as we are mandated to do.”

The Rotaract Club of South East Nassau Centennial, a Rotary-sponsored service club for young men and women aged 18-30, organised a “Dictionary Drive” with Logos Bookstore in the Harbour Bay Shopping Plaza, which began at the end of July and ran until the weekend.

The drive encouraged the public to spend $10 each on dictionaries as a small contribution to help improve children’s literacy skills.

“It’s important for everyone to know how to read and to understand what they’re reading,” Jacquilia Newton, president of The Rotaract Club of South East Nassau Centennial, said. “Children must read to become more knowledgeable. We plan to donate more in the near future.”

The donation of dictionaries was received by Carlton E Francis School’s Literacy Co-ordinator Santosh Brooks, who said the dictionaries will be used by the book club and her class.

“Today being International Literacy Day, I am grateful to have accepted the 24 dictionaries donated on behalf of the Rotaract Club. When children are better spellers and readers, they are better writers,” Ms Brooks said.

Under the theme “Literacy and Sustainable Development,” the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) International Literacy Day is celebrated worldwide in an effort to improve literacy as “a basis for lifelong learning”.

According to UNESCO’s website “literacy skills developed from a basic to advanced level throughout life are part of broader competencies required for critical thinking, the sense of responsibility, participatory governance, sustainable consumption and lifestyles, ecological behaviours, bio-diversity protection, poverty reduction and disaster risk reduction.”