WOW Reading competition

From 13 August, the WOW Reading Challenge, an initiative of Safer South, will again galvanise eight schools in the South of Johannesburg into reading books. The eight schools that have entered the competition are: Highveld Primary, Regents Park, Futura, Suidheuwels, Montana, as well as last year's first, second and third-placed schools: Rosettenville Central Primary, Mary Help of Christians, a junior primary school in Booysens, and Townsview.
In last year's competition, Rosettenville Central learners read a total of 10,130 books! They also engaged their entire student body in the reading challenge. In total, learners from all the schools taking part read 22,649 books during the competition. All of the schools that completed the competition received a donation of a large box of brand-new books to bolster their school libraries. The books that have been donated for this year's competition easily equate to R100 000.
Young people who develop a love of reading early in life are more likely to achieve good marks in school and have a positive self-image, while rejecting things such as drugs and crime. Just as sports can put a young person on a positive path and encourage discipline, so too can reading open doors, expand horizons and give young people a vision for their future that is different than their current reality.