A few weeks ago, the National Literacy Agency and The Malta Trust Foundation celebrated the closure of the sixth National Readathon, organised with the support of Malta Public Transport. During this celebration, held at the Mikiel Anton Vassalli College Hall, representatives from participating schools and individual participants were awarded special prizes. Guests were treated to musical and dance performances by students enrolled at the Malta Visual and Performing Arts school. This celebration was presided by Her Excellency Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, Chairperson of The Malta Trust Foundation and the Hon. Clifton Grima, Minister for Education, Sport, Youth, Research, and Innovation.
The chosen slogan for this year’s edition of the Readathon was ‘Read – Any Time, Any Place!’ Schools were encouraged to organize a ‘Drop Everything and Read!’ reading activity. On the day, chosen by the school, pupils were asked to bring their favourite book, or a book they were reading. Participating pupils were asked to make a small donation and were given a commemorative bookmark. H. E. Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca along with the Reading Ambassadors visited schools to promote this initiative.
About 8,500 pupils from 33 state, church and independent schools participated in this year’s edition. The Malta Trust Foundation, in collaboration with the National Literacy Agency and other entities, will be investing in Augmentative and Alternative Communication Devices to help non-verbal children on the autism spectrum and children with visual impairments, to improve their communication skills.
