Newman Smith High School's Human Rights Forum is excited to announce that we will be hosting a schoolwide Read-A-Thon to support the incredible work of the literacy nonprofit organization, Room to Read. Room to Read "seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in developing countries by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Working in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations and governments, [they] develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children, and support girls to complete secondary school with the relevant life skills to succeed in school and beyond." The Human Rights Forum is honored to help an organization that "envision[s] a world in which all children can pursue a quality education that enables them to reach their full potential and contribute to their communities and the world." Read-A-Thons are fantastic ways to reinforce good reading habits in our own school while raising funds to support literacy in the developing world. Today, there are over 770 million illiterate adults in the world and close to an additional 100 million children who are not enrolled in primary school. That’s nearly 1 billion people who do not have basic reading and writing skills, 2/3 of them are girls and most live in Asia and Africa. R2R is working to improve these conditions by establishing thousands of libraries in the developing world and filling them with books to ensure that all children have the opportunity to expand their horizons, nurture their curiosity and gain access to life-changing literacy skills. By hosting a Read-A-Thon at our school, students will give the gift of literacy while strengthening their own reading abilities. Proceeds raised through this Read-a-thon will fund new libraries in Asia and Africa and will help create high quality, culturally relevant children’s books published in local languages, so that young students in the developing world can learn and grow. They will also help girls' education efforts, since many girls around the world are unable to go to school or reach their biggest aspirations. We believe every child has a right to learn, to feel respected, to dream, and to feel inspired. Thank you for sharing our vision. Watch the videos below to see Room to Read's profound impact firsthand. (You may have to turn on closed captions for some of them). If you have more than 5 minutes of classtime to spare for these inspirational stories, here are a few more videos to share with your students:
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AuthorHuman Rights Forum Officers, 2016-2017 |