To hone the reading skills of Pasig City’s youth, the local government and the Schools Division Office (SDO) launched on Friday, Sept. 30, the “Home Reading Library” program wherein over 722,000 storybooks were procured for kinder to third grade learners.

Some students from Pasig Elementary School, San Joaquin Elementary School, Dr. Sixto Antonio Elementary School, and Pinagbuhatan Elementary School, along with their teachers, gathered at the Tanghalang Rizal in Rizal High School on Friday morning.

For the read-along session, Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto and famous author Dr. Luis Gatmaitan, a Carlos Palanca Hall-of-Famer awardee, read some of the stories to the children.

The purchased storybooks by the local government are set to be disseminated to all the SDO public schools in the city.

“Sa ating mga paaralan, gusto po talaga natin palakasin at mag-focus sa reading dahil ito’y magagamit natin hanggang sa pagtanda natin, hanggang sa pagnagtatrabaho na kayo o maging lider man kayo sa iba’t ibang larangan (We really want to strengthen and focus on reading in our schools because this is an essential tool we use as we grow older, we get jobs, or we become leaders in different fields),” Sotto said.

“Sa lebel na mas praktikal, alam naman natin na kung nahihirapan magbasa ay mahihirapan din sa iba pang subjects (On a practical level, we know that students having difficulty reading will also have a difficult time learning other subjects),” he added.

Sotto shared how his mother read books to him as a child, and told him of the importance of learning and instilling in him a fondness for reading.

Pasig City has been lucky, he said, because their students have generally garnered good examination results and performance evaluations. However, there is still room for improvement in those areas.

The mayor vied for cooperation between stakeholders to promote reading in the schools to help the youth further develop a love for reading.

“Kung ma-instill po natin sa mga kabataan natin ang love for reading, sigurado po na magiging mas maliwanag ang kinabukasan ng ating lungsod at lipunan. Mas magiging matibay ang pundasyon ng ating mga magaaral (If we instill in our children a love for reading, our city and society will surely become brighter. The foundation of our students will become firmer),” he said.

Last July, Pasig schools resumed their face-to-face summer reading camps, a top priority for the local school board.

The camps lasted up to one week or 10 days, filled with interactive sessions with elementary and high school students to elevate their reading skills and comprehension.

Around 8,500 children and teenagers joined the camp’s activities.