Reading books is an essential habit to develop the minds and intelligence of young generations. In the current digital age, where visual media and interactive content command the interests of young children, reading habits have taken a backseat. To come up with interactive methods to make reading more desirable and revive reading habits in children, the British Council’s Cultural Centre recently hosted a Reader Development Symposium at its office in Dhaka University campus area. The symposium was a day-long event with more than 80 teacher participants from 30 institutions, who coordinate and implement the Book Reading programme in their respective institutions.

The event was all about sharing views and exchanging experiences of challenges faced by the experts. Additionally, the participants attended several engaging activities including skill development sessions with a focus on teaching techniques in classrooms, child protection awareness campaigns, meetings on how the Book Reading programme can contribute to the development of English skills in readers etc. 

There was also an interactive session on the British Council’s Digital Library. As part of initiating new and digital access and services to the Bangladeshi audience, the British Council library extended its services to its customers who cannot visit the library physically by introducing an enriched Digital Library. This was followed by a webinar on the discussions which will be integrated to Book Reading Programme soon for outreach audiences.

 The Symposium concluded with the distribution of awards to the participating institutions.