LMH Publishing Limited will in the New Year launch an extensive reading programme to benefit primary and secondary school children.

Dubbed ‘Readers are Leaders’, the programme — to cost $10 million for the roll-out of phase which targets 10 per cent of high schools and five per cent of primary schools — will see the establishment of reading clubs at participating institutions.

Michele Scott, marketing and business development manager at LMH, said the objective of the programme is to promote reading as a fun activity.

“What we found is that children below age 15 are not reading at the level that they are supposed to be reading [at] so we want to encourage them to read for fun,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

As such, the programme will engage students at the club level in three areas — reading out loud, reading as a basis to writing and reading for comprehension.

Scott said the publishing house will liaison with the teachers to develop the clubs for which books will be provided by LMH at a 50 per cent discount, with the support of sponsors.

“Book clubs are going to be encouraging children to read out loud and to read in public and they can also describe or discuss the book. Teachers will then assist them in developing their comprehension skills,” she noted.

Also critical, Scott said, will be parental participation.

“It will be necessary for parents to be involved, so they can encourage and help their children to read the books before going to the club,” she said.

Another feature of the programme — called ‘Authors in Residence’ — will see local authors visiting schools to sit and share with the students about their books, a career in writing and the value of reading.

These visits will extend to book fairs where influential leaders, including members of parliament, mayors and heads of the sponsoring corporations, will visit the schools and interact with students.

Also forming a part of the programme will be the distribution of ‘I Read And I’m Proud’ T-shirts provided by LMH, in an attempt to cultivate pride in reading.

There are also plans to designate an ‘I Love to Read’ month, complete with a special theme each year, when communities will celebrate reading through a series of theme days, localised reading contests and concerts. In addition, there is to be a national Young Readers’ Choice Awards event run by the school libraries.

LMH Chairman Mike Henry said there was no question of the value of their efforts.

“The more you read, the more you learn; the more you learn, the more you think; the more you think, the more you react, the more you react, the more you create; the more you create, the more you innovate,” he told Career & Education.

“Reading excites the mind and the imagination because you relive your life through what you read or you live through the character you are reading about. You will ultimately find that the more people read, the more [likely that] they will become leaders because it’s the more they think,” added Henry, who is himself a writer.

Phase one of the programme will be undertaken in Kingston and St Andrew and St Catherine.