Literacy Week: Commissioner joins forces with Dutch Minister and Princess to highlight campaign
Androulla Vassiliou will join Dutch Minister for Education, Culture and Science Marja Van Bijsterveldt and Princess Laurentien of The Netherlands, who chairs the Commission's high-level expert group on literacy (IP/11/115), for a reading event with young pupils at the International School of The Hague on 6 September.
Organised in conjunction with the Dutch Reading & Writing Foundation (Stichting Lezen & Schrijven), the event is part of the Netherlands' reading literacy week and also highlights International Literacy Day (8 September). The Commissioner will hear young children reading excerpts from Night Monkey, Day Monkey by Julia Donaldson, author of The Gruffalo. It is the fourth such reading event held by Commissioner Vassiliou since the launch of her 'Europe loves reading' literacy campaign, which included the setting up of the high-level group which is evaluating how best to combat illiteracy. Based on the group's proposals, the Commissioner will present recommendations to EU Education Ministers in autumn 2012. Some 20% of Europe's 15-year-olds currently have low reading skills and the EU target is to reduce this to under 15%. 'Illiteracy isn't just about being unable to read books. We're surrounded by words and texts - on computers, phones, billboards, everywhere. I want to encourage reading in school, at home, on buses, on trains, in the street. We need to address illiteracy wherever and in whatever form it occurs to give young people a better future ," said Commissioner Vassiliou.
Pictures of the event
