Surely no greater tribute can be paid to the power and joy of reading than that delivered by Sekela Msafiri, a grade five student at Cockburn Gardens Primary School in St Andrew during Read Across Jamaica Day activities on Tuesday.

“Reading makes me feel like I can go anywhere…” said Sekela as she celebrated the arrival of “many new books to choose from” at her school.

The books came thanks to a partnership between NCB Foundation and the community-based charity, The Free Likkle Cupboard.

The initiative enabled book-filled cupboards, described as mini free libraries at Cockburn Gardens Primary and New Providence Primary.

According to the story published in yesterday’s edition, The Free Likkle Cupboard, which has as its motto ‘Tek what yuh need, give what yuh can’, has tackled issues like food insecurity, education gaps, and access to resources in a “tangible, neighbourly way”.

The inspiring story in Cockburn Gardens was just one of many such on Read Across Jamaica Day as well as Teachers’ Day (on Wednesday) and throughout the annual Jamaica Teachers’ Association’s (JTA) Education Week.

The activities showed off the good that can be done if we all choose to share.

At Mayfield Primary and Infant School in Southfield, St Elizabeth, for example, there was a ground-breaking ceremony on Tuesday for what’s being described as a new reading garden.

The project has received a “jump-start” from Access Financial Services which is donating $250,000.

School Principal Loren Newbold-Gayle said it is intended to benefit all grade levels. The project flows from “an intense drive” over the last three years to improve literacy “whether the material is in a book or on a device”.

We admire Ms Newbold-Gayle’s insistence that students should understand “that teaching and learning isn’t reserved for inside a classroom” and that “taking them into a welcoming space outdoors will also help us promote a love for the environment. So the reading garden is achieving multiple goals…”

And further, that “scheduled reading is essential. Maths is there and that needs to be improved, but literacy is critical in helping to improve overall student outcomes. We have to empower students …, and this kind of focus will better prepare for the next levels of their education, right through high school and beyond”.

Such thinking is, without doubt, music to the ears of Education Minister Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon, who has doubled down on her promise to have reading timetabled in primary schools come September this year, supported by teacher training and resources.

We like the minister’s willingness, as reported, to move outside the box in recommending reading options that meet children where they are — especially boys who are often more engaged by visual storytelling.

Said Mrs Morris Dixon: “We don’t always have to do the regular books. There are graphic novels, comics, whatever we can do to make it fun. Give them something that’s interesting, that’s exciting…”

Likewise, we would add that children should be guided into appreciating that those favoured play tools, digital devices, are exceptional reading and educational aids.

Finally, we believe it’s appropriate to say thanks to all business operators, be they enormous, large, medium, small, who found the will to help our students and teachers this week. We say keep going. Don’t stop.