Children’s Book Forum

Representatives from a diverse group but with a common objective of promoting ‘reading’ among Bhutanese children, including some children, attended a Children’s Book Forum organized by Save the Children in collaboration with Royal Education Council under Bhutan Children’s Book Initiative (BCBI) on 1st June,2016 at Ariya Hotel in Thimphu.

With the overarching goal of promoting reading among children, the Book Forum brought together authors, illustrators, teachers, school principals, children, officials from agencies with similar objectives such as READ Bhutan, public library, media, Ministry of Education, and Royal Education Council.

While children read and shared their favourite story books, the authors shared their wonderful experiences in writing for children. The forum also discussed on how the reading momentum among children could be sustained and strengthened. For one, the Royal Education Council (REC) informed the gathering that a ‘criteria for selecting children’s books’ have been developed in collaboration with Save the Children and endorsed for use as a national-level guide for parents, teachers, and schools while choosing books for children.

Save the Children also presented on the findings of a Baseline study (conducted for BCBI) on children’s access to reading materials, their reading habit, on print-rich environment in classroom, and assessment of existing children’s books, among others.