Teen cousins want to ignite passion for reading in kids

Two teenage cousins are on a mission to help students recover from the learning loss caused by COVID-19-induced disruptions in the education sector by honing their reading skills and develop a deeper appreciation for books.

Bookworms Debra-Kay Smith, 18, and Savannah Smith, 17, came up with the idea for their Books for Kids Ja initiative during a brainstorming session months ago.

“We are avid readers and we thought to ourselves, what better way we can give back to our community? And then Savannah remembered my aunt – her mom – and the teacher mentioning that some schools are suffering from a learning loss because of COVID,” Debra-Kay, a lower-sixth form student at Immaculate Conception High, told The Gleaner in an interview yesterday.

With particular concern for students at the early childhood level, the duo decided to donate their collection of children books to schools.

Even then, they felt the urge to do more, and as Read Across Jamaica Day 2022 – which was celebrated yesterday – approached, they sought to forge a partnership with popular book store Kingston Bookshop.

This allowed them to host reading sessions yesterday at the Allman Town Primary School in Kingston and donate books from Kingston Bookshop to the institution.

For her part, Savannah, who is in lower-sixth form at St Andrew High School for Girls, told The Gleaner that they are elated to have been able to make a change in the society, and they hope the students will come to appreciate the value of reading.

“We’re happy that we got the opportunity to share our resources because we know that there are a lot of people that are suffering, and why not help them if we are able to?” she said.

Allman Town Primary Principal Latoya Nesbeth was glad that the teenagers chose her institution for the day’s activities.

“I’m happy that we are back in the face-to-face phase because some of these activities would have been activities that the students and the teachers would have looked forward to, and this year is no different,” Nesbeth told The Gleaner.

“We really want to engage the children. We asked them to wear a shirt that has a print on it – a message from their favourite character from one of their books – so it’s not just having persons read. We want them to appreciate things that they have read or watched and for us to have a discussion around the print that they will be wearing,” she said.

Read Across Jamaica formed part of activities by the Jamaica Teachers’ Association to celebrate Education Week, which runs from May 1 to 7.

Today is celebrated as Teachers’ Day.

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com