By A Correspondent| Rotary club chairman, Walter Nyamurima, has emphasized the need to instill a reading culture in school children from an early age to foster creativity and innovation.

Speaking at the Glenview library in Harare on Tuesday in commemoration of World Book and Copyright Day, Nyamurima stressed that the foundation of a reading culture begins at a young age.

“The important message that I have for the children is twofold: one, we need to promote the reading culture because knowledge is power. Once you have knowledge, nobody can take that away from you,” Nyamurima remarked.

He emphasized, “What we are witnessing here is the manifestation of the abiding passion that we have as Zimbabweans for matters pertaining to education.”

Nyamurima highlighted the necessity for Zimbabwe to have more knowledgeable individuals, stating, “So, it’s important to engage these kids early and instill in them this reading culture and the importance of acquiring knowledge.”

Memory Mungana, the project manager of Glenview Library, conveyed their efforts to raise awareness among children regarding acknowledging the authors of the material they read.

“What we want to do is bring awareness to the children. While we encourage them to develop a culture of reading, we also want them to be aware that the material they are reading actually belongs to somebody else; it’s an idea that somebody put on paper,” Mungana explained.

She added, “We want them to read and have an opportunity to open their own minds to their own ideas. They must always be aware that when they are writing or quoting anything from a book, they must acknowledge the author.”

Mungana expressed gratitude to the Rotary Club for the generous book donations to the library.