BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

PUBLIC libraries across the country celebrated World Book Day by engaging community members to join them in the one-day event.

The libraries under the Language and Literature Bureau (DBP) organised several activities such as a book sale and an interactive session with librarians under their “Library Open Day Programme” (Program Hari Terbuka Perpustakaan).

The DBP has been celebrating the occasion since 2012 to recognise the importance of books as the main medium to share information to everyone across the world.

This year’s theme is “Buku Sumber Inspirasiku” (Books As My Source of Inspiration).

In a statement issued by the DBP, the celebration is aimed at cultivating a reading habit among society, enlivening the institutions of libraries, promote life-long learning and to help realise Vision 2035 which is to produce a knowledgeable, informed, and competitive Bruneian society.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) website, its Director-General, Irina Bokova, said that the organisation is leading the fight against illiteracy and for it to be included as a crucial ingredient of the Sustainable Development Goals to follow 2015.

“Literacy is the door to knowledge, essential to individual self-esteem and empowerment. Books, in all forms, play an essential role here,” she said in a statement on the occasion of World Book Day.

“With 175 million adolescents in the world — mostly girls and young women — unable to read a single sentence, UNESCO is committed to harnessing information and communication technologies, especially mobile technology, to support literacy and to reach the unreached with quality learning,” she added.

World Book Day is celebrated annually on April 23.

It was started by UNESCO as an opportunity to recognise the power of books to change people’s lives for the better, to support books, and those who produce them.

The Brunei Times