To commemorate International Literacy day, Digicel Foundation donated more than ten boxes of reading books to Tubusereia Primary School in the Central Province, one of its partner schools.
Celebrated on the 8th of September annually, International Literacy Day has been celebrated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) since 1967 to raise awareness on the importance of literacy in building a more literate and sustainable society.
Digicel PNG Foundation CEO, Serena Sasingian, said that libraries are an essential part of a students’ educational journey. Libraries create opportunities for learning, support literacy and education, and help shape the new ideas and perspectives that are central to a creative and innovative society.
“To date Digicel Foundation has built 33 libraries all over the country as part of its School infrastructure program. Tubusereia Primary School is a partner school of the Foundation and one that has done an excellent job at maintaining a library with a collection of books for their students to read. We are happy to support them with this new collection of books to read,” said Sasingian.
The donation of the reading books is an addition to the current building of an eight in one classroom for Tubuserea Primary School. The building of the classroom is to introduce Digicel PNG Foundation’s latest program, the Sustainable Whole School Development program that began late last year.
School Head Master, Kwara Kwara, said it was a great privilege for the school to be supported by Digicel Foundation not only for donating the books for the library but also building the new 8-in-1 classroom.
“English is not our mother tongue or language so our library set up is one way to increase reading in the school. This book donation is timely and I am proud of the team, Digicel Foundation for supporting with the new books as one of our goals is to have a stand-alone library for the school,” said Kwara.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which disrupted the learning of children and young adults, UNESCO has themed this year’s International Literacy Day with ‘Literacy for human-centered recovery: Narrowing the digital divide’ which falls in line with Digicel PNG Foundation’s goal of building a connected, educated and healthy Papua New Guinea.
Since the launch of Digicel PNG Foundation in October of 2008, Digicel Foundation have invested a total on K139.8million in education and health projects in all 89 districts in the country.