Great Plains College, in partnership with the Southwest Literacy Committee, will celebrate Family Literacy Day on January 27.

The day began as an initiative of ABC Canada, and Bula Ghosh member of the Southwest Literacy Committee described its importance.

"We know that literacy is the foundation of whatever we do in our lives and whatever happens in the country. We talk about economic progress and the GDP and everything, it is all dependent on literacy levels of the people and how we can perform."

Family Literacy Day is meant to bring awareness to the importance of literacy and the role that the family plays in this importance. 

Ghosh reflected on the role that caregivers play when it comes to literacy.

"Parent's who read at home, parents who have books at home and encourage reading by setting examples, they are the example. Their children will have less difficulty in school and they start school knowing more words."

This year's theme is "Travel the world together" and Ghosh said that travelling this year is affordable and accessible to everyone by doing it virtually. Everyone is encouraged to take the opportunity to go out in the world, country or community and learn something about a place you haven't visited before. 

 A number of events will be taking place including the provincial government sponsoring a virtual reading session on January 27th of the award-winning book "Never rub noses with a Narwhal" by Saskatchewan author Ruth Wellborn. The book is based on the lives of the Inuit people and will be broadcast across the province on January 27th at 10:30 am and can be viewed here. The book is also being read by all grade two students in the Chinook School Division. 

Grade three students within the Chinook School Division will each receive a copy of the book "Hockey night in Kenya" and they will have a chance to listen to authors Danson Mutinda and Eric Walters read chapters from the book and talk to students about the culture and life of children in an orphanage in Kenya. Students will also receive a postcard on which they can write a message to the children in Kenya and drop the postcard off at their local library who will then mail it for them. 

Chinook Regional Library is conducting Story Trails in partnership with Palliser Regional Library. Story Trails will be an outdoor activity for the participating families and books will be given away as prizes to the families. In addition, Kids First Program in Maple Creek is conducting a Story Walk taking place on January 29, 30, and 31. This is an outdoor activity where pages of a book are laminated and placed in different locations in town with clues leading to each page. When complete families will receive a book and prizes. 

"Learning is not just done by reading but in everything that we do, we are learning something new. Collective learning will help shape who we are and how we are going to be living our lives." said Ghosh.