KUCHING: Malaysians will read together for 10 minutes on April 23 starting at 11am.
The “Let’s Read Together For 10 Minutes” programme is an annual event organised by Sarawak State Library in collaboration with other state libraries across Malaysia and the state Education Department.
Sarawak State Library deputy chief executive officer (Services) Arpah Adenan told a press conference here yesterday that the programme was part of the National Reading Decade launched by Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik in Dec last year.
She said the objective of the programme was to cultivate a culture of reading and harness a profound affection for knowledge among the community.
“Participants of the programme are encouraged to share their photos with the hashtag #Jombaca2019 to social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook of Sarawak State Library,” she added.
Arpah hoped the programme would encourage more youths to read and gain knowledge as well as develop their character and enhance their skills.
Sarawak State Library community engagement services head Razak Rambili said the organising committee was targeting to attract 500,000 readers to participate in this year’s event.
Razak said based on available statistics, Sarawak accounted for 246,235 out of the six million participants registered for the programme nationwide last year.
“With the assistance of the state Education Department, we hope to increase the participation from Sarawak to 500,000 this year,” he added.
The “Let’s Read Together For 10 Minutes” programme was first established in 2014 as an initiative by the Malaysian Public Library Council of Directors.
This year’s event has adopted the “Drop Everything and Read for 10 Minutes” concept which is aimed at keeping state libraries relevant as after-school education hubs for the community nationwide.
