The Chief Minister's reading challenge is turning a new page in 2024 and all eyes are focused on setting a new record.
The annual reading challenge aims to encourage a love of reading for leisure, improve core literacy skills, increase student and community engagement with schools and improve lifelong learning.
The challenge - to read 12 books per student over a 24 week period.
This year's cohort of students from transition to year 6 are aiming to set a new reading challenge record, needing to surpass 11,235 students involved across 69 schools.
Last year the reading challenge recorded an exceptional uptake in the Territory's remote schools including Larapinta Primary school in Alice Springs which had 286 students participate, the highest number of any school for 2023.
This major uptake from our remote school contributed to the 166,629 book read across the 2023 reading challenge.
The Chief Minister's Reading Challenge has already begun and will conclude on Friday, 23 August.
Quotes attributable to Chief Minister, Eva Lawler:
"The Chief Minister's reading challenge is all about improving a child's development and fostering a love for reading.
"Reading is a core foundation for success, it helps children learn about sounds, words and language, stimulates the imagination and helps students connect with one another.
"Last year we witnessed a huge uptake of the reading challenge within our remote schools which is an indication of the positive direction our education system is heading.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Education, Mark Monaghan:
"There is nothing more important than reading in the early years of a student's schooling journey.
"The reason the Chief Minister's Reading Challenge has been so successful is not only the lifelong benefits which derive from reading at a young age, but it enables students to participate in a healthy competition between other schools and we saw this last year with three Central Australian based schools fighting for top spot in the challenge."
Northern Territory Government
