Brief Remarks by Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Education & Ministry of Social and Family Development, Kids' Lit Quiz National Finals, Saturday, 22 April 2017
Mr Sim Seng Lim, Singapore Country Head, DBS Bank
Mrs Elaine Ng, CEO, National Library Board
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Boys and girls
1. A very good morning to all of you!
2. It is such a pleasure to be here today. Upon hearing that the fourth run of the Kids Lit Quiz will take place here again, I jumped at the opportunity to be here. What a fun way to learn from the world of literatures and interact with like-minded peers from across the nation!
3. The Kids Lit Quiz, also known as the ‘Olympic Games of reading’, is a great platform for children to showcase their literary knowledge as well as interact with other young readers.
4. The quiz has shown that reading can be fun and rewarding. All of the students here have shown that they have a strong passion for reading and a vast interest in literature. You have impressed us with what you can remember from your reading adventures, and I applaud you for that.
5. The quiz is a great platform for all students to show their strong interest in books. Speaking from personal experience, I regularly set aside time to read, something that I have done since I was a young boy. I only wish that I had such programmes like the Kids Lit Quiz available to me in my youth.
6. According to the National Reading Habits survey, about 69% of Singaporeans are still reading books. That is not too bad, but we should encourage more people to read leisurely. The absence of time is cited as one of the reasons why people have stopped reading books. Other entertainment devices like the TV, videos and games are competing for our attention. But I believe that if we all set aside some time, we can all have more time to read
7. I am also so heartened to see organisations like POSB, work hand in hand with the National Library Board to promote a strong reading culture in our society today.
8. With the combined efforts from schools, teachers, parents and NLB, we can work together to ensure that our children are nurtured to read more, read widely and read together.
9. I would like to wish all of you the very best of luck in the National Finals. Have fun everyone! Thank you.