Island-wide book writing competition for schoolchildren
View(s):With nearly 43,000 schoolchildren at home due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, the Education Ministry has collaborated with the Sri Lanka National Library and taken the initiative to launch an island-wide programme of writing 10,000 books with the aim of developing these children’s mental strength, creativity and their ability of overcoming challenges.
The children were instructed to consult a teacher and get the written draft edited when schools reopen and send the books to the Zonal Director or Directress of Education through their school principal. The Zonal Director and the Provincial Director of Education will then select the best books and send them to the Ministry, who will publish the best 10,000 books.
It is expected that each school will submit at least one book. This initiative will be carried out as a competition and the best books and its authors will receive state honours.
Children eligible for the competition must be students of a Government or International school and must be between Grades 1 and 13. The books can be written Sinhala, Tamil or English.
The books must be completed before May 28 2020, and the best book or books from each school must be selected by a school committee. Afterwards, the selected books must be sent to the Zonal Education Office before June 10 2020.
The 10,000 books selected in the first stage will be converted to e-books and sent to the e-libraries. The best 100 books will be selected by a qualified recommendation committee and printed, and state honours will be awarded later on. The Education Ministry has collaborated with the Sri Lanka National Library, to get these books printed.
By Shaadya Ismail