Worrying”  about illiteracy, the EU Commissioner of Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, Androulla Vassiliou  invited children to read  many books.

Vasilliou spoke after an event against illiteracy held Monday in the third Kaimakli Elementary School in Nicosia. 

The event was attended also by the mayor of Nicosia, Eleni Mavrou, the head of the European Commission Representation in Cyprus, Androulla Kaminara, the Director General of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Olympia Stylianou and actress Christiana Artemios. 

noted that “the latest information we have seems to be the  worrying phenomenon of illiteracy.  One in five children in Europe can not read well. That is, can read but not understand what they read. ”

“So we started a campaign to encourage children to read more books and to understand the value of reading,” she added.

She also mentioned that the discussion with the children revealed that the majority of children prefer to see a movie than read a book and asked the children before they see a movie, read the first book about this movie.

. At the event, students of the school read one of Aesop’s fable, followed by discussion of the benefits that can be gained by reading some books.

Source: Philelefteros