Children’s Literature Festival (CLF)- a fun-filled event designed to cater children and to promote the culture of book reading among youngsters and help them develop critical thinking and creative writing, concluded on Saturday.
The two-day Children’s Literature Festival organised by the Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi and Oxford University Press in collaboration with Open Society Foundations, CLC and the Punjab School Education Department.
The festival was attended by thousands of children from all over Punjab that facilitated interactive sessions for Children from the age group of 4-20 conducted by Baela Raza Jamil, Haseena Moin, Mira Hashmi, Khalid Anum, Ameena Saiyid, Nadia Jamil, Fehmida Riaz, Saife Hasan, Zambeel, Imrana Maqssod, along with many other renowned personalities. Their interactive sessions and discussions included book reading, lectures, musical interactive performances, theatrics and orations, art of reading with expression, and creative arts.
Addressing the closing session, Oxford University Press Managing Director Amina Sayed said the purpose of organising the CLF is promotion of culture of reading.
“We have face up the fact that Pakistan is among the bottom countries of the world in terms of literacy rate and it is not just the question of quantitative literacy but also of the quality of education that is being provided. We all need to change this. Education is the business of all of us.”
Baela Raza Jamil, Director Programs for ITA, emphasised the use of technology for improving the quality of education.
“The CLF now in its third year, has seen 15 festivals, including this one, all over Pakistan. We are committed to gather like-minded people, organizations, and institutions for promotion of literacy and culture of reading among the children from a young age and wish to expand it to all corners of Pakistan. It is one thing which can help eliminate ills from our society, be it terrorism or corruption,” she said.