Books for Primary Schools Project

The Minister of Education and National Culture, the Hon. Evarist Bartolo, recently announced a project to place Lm20 worth of books in each of the state primary classrooms. This forms part of the Early Literacy Programme and is being handled by the Schools Library Service.

Six catalogues were produced in a short space of time, one for each year of the primary school. These were mailed to the schools to be used for selection purposes. Teachers responsible for the different age groups made their selection and returned the catalogues to the Schools Library Service. Work is now well advanced on preparing orders for these books which have to be in the schools by the beginning of October.

Books from more than 150 different authors have been included in the catalogues. This exercise is intended to bring to the notice of teachers and the pupils themselves the wide variety of books and authors available for the age range 5-10. Children must be shown good books to encourage them to read. Some of the books listed have sold millions of copies round the world yet are practically unknown in Malta.

A copy of all the books in the catalogues will be on show at the Schools Library Service stand at the Malta Book Fair between 20 and 23 November. The books will then be kept at the Schools Library Service Centre in Floriana to act as a nucleus for an extensive exhibition collection. This will enable teachers from state and private schools to view the books they might wish to add to their class or school libraries.

The Malta Book Fair will feature a number of literary activities, including story telling, drama, science workshops, video shows of famous books etc. It will also be the starting point for quizzes and other competitions for 1998.