School kids asked to swap a good book with a mate

Tens of thousands of school children are being asked to swap a good book with their mates as part of a campaign to help improve literacy rates among Indigenous kids living in remote communities.

Source: SBS

The Indigenous Literacy Foundation is aiming to sign up a record 30,000 school children for its annual Great Book Swap this year and raise $300,000 to buy new books for Indigenous children.

Program manager Tina Raye says many Indigenous children struggle with reading when they start school because they simply haven't had access to books, a library or even things such as street signs in some more remote communities where they grow up.

"Generally there are no books available to the local community," she told SBS World News.

"There are local schools that might have a small library but books are not often lent out to families to take home and read together.

"All of our kids out there are crying out for books and having these kinds of materials they can read, so are parents, they're asking for it."

Source: SBS

ILF executive director Karen Williams described as "appalling" data in the latest annual Closing the Gap report which showed that the aim of halving the gap for Indigenous children in reading and numeracy by this year was not on track.

While 88 per cent of Indigenous Year 3 students in major cities met or exceeded the national minimum standard for reading in 2017, only 46 per cent of students in very remote areas did so.

The ILF has run the Great Book Swap for the past eight years, with every student who takes part making a gold coin donation that goes towards buying culturally appropriate books for Indigenous children.

This year's Great Book Swap launched at Bourke Street Public School on Thursday, in Sydney's inner-city.

The two school captains started the book swap.

Source: SBS

 

"I have The 78 Storey Treehouse which I really love, I've read it five times maybe, and I really, really like it," Josephine Bradfield said. 

Arkitto Coles added: "I think kids need to be able to enjoy and love reading as we did, and to give them the opportunity to do that."

The ILF also works with more than 250 organisations in local Indigenous communities to gauge ideas about which books will encourage reading and the sharing of stories.

"We're incredibly proud and excited that so many kids are passionate about helping kids in remote communities," Ms Williams said.

 

The ILF is hoping to raise $300,000 to buy 30,000 books for Indigenous communities. 

Registrations for the Book Swap can be made at www.greatbookswap.org.au