CHAIRMAN of the National Library Committee, Petamber Persaud, in a recent interview with the Guyana Chronicle, said that several organisations have been assisting the Ministry of Education in making continuous efforts to educate the nation through literacy, and these efforts have seen positive results in the literacy rates in the country. Persaud said the Ministry of Education, the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD) and the National Library are just some of the organisations that must take credit for those positive results.

Alluding to the National Library’s motto, “Educating the nation through literacy”, he said that, that institution does not only have a reading club, but an annual Champion Reader competition which was launched in 2010.

He also referred to the “Know your Stuff” literature quiz hosted by Dr. Joyce Jonas on the National Communications Network (NCN), in collaboration with the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T), Guyenterprise, and the Ministry of Education.

This quiz is aimed at improving performances of students in Literature, while also promoting learning in a fun way, so that secondary students can acquaint themselves with the subject, which forms a major part of the school curriculum.

The quiz also encourages students to read more, and to become better critical thinkers, thereby improving their analytical skills.

Persaud noted that other instances of efforts to improve literacy in Guyana include exercises that are published in the newspapers on a weekly basis, as well as his NCN television programmes, “Oral Tradition” and “Between the Lines”

He pointed out that the Guyana Book Foundation, as well as the University of Guyana Library, has reading clubs, and with the provision of all these reading services, it is now up to the reader to improve his/her literacy.