CHILDREN must be encouraged to develop a reading culture at a tender age in order to give them a chance to open their minds and make them creative and innovative, Harare mayor Muchadeyi Masunda said.
Report by Moses Chibaya
Speaking to journalists at Harare City Library, to commemorate the World Book and Copyright Day, Masunda said a culture of reading begins at a tender age.
“The important message that I have for the children is that we need to promote the reading culture because knowledge is power,” he said. “Once you have knowledge, nobody can take that away from you. What we are seeing here is the manifestation of the abiding passion that we have as Zimbabweans on matters pertaining to education.”
Masunda said Zimbabwe will need more knowledgeable people, “so it’s important to catch these kids young and inculcate in them this reading culture and the importance of gathering knowledge.”
“I have been a voracious reader myself over the years and at a tender age of 15; I had gone through many biographies of the most important leaders worldwide. It’s not surprising that my reading culture from an early age enabled me to be a lawyer. So it’s a very important area that needs to be given the attention it so richly deserves.”
Project manager of Culture Fund of Zimbabwe Trust, Emelda Musariri, said the organisation has embarked on an awareness campaign to encourage children to acknowledge whatever writing that was not theirs.
“What we are saying is that children must develop a culture of reading. They must also be aware that the material they are reading actually belongs to somebody else, an idea that somebody put on paper,” she said.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
“We want them to read to have an opportunity to also open their own minds to their own ideas. They must always be aware that when they are writing or quoting anything from a book, they must be able to acknowledge the author.”
Masunda, who is the patron of the Harare City Library, paid tribute to the Swedish Embassy for providing US$1 million for the renovation of the facility and its satellite libraries.
The renovations of the libraries are expected to commence next month.
The World Book and Copyright Day was held under the theme: Reading, Publishing and the Protection of Intellectual Property through Copyright.
