Since the beginning of February this year, an enormous reading project has been implemented at selected schools from the Thulamela region of Limpopo.

The World Newspaper Reading Passport project culminated in a prize-giving ceremony that took place at the Thohoyandou Arts and Culture centre on Saturday 10 November. The project was run by Makoya youth magazine in partnership with Mirror newspaper, and was sponsored by Thohoyandou Spar, Sanlam and the World Association of Newspapers.

More than 230 schools in the Thulamela region took part in what was essentially a newspaper reading project and more than 60 schools returned their completed passports. The project was run as a competition, and schools that participated the most were rewarded for their efforts. The winning schools in each category will receive "make-overs" at the schools in 2008. The "make-overs" will take the form of renovations of classrooms and other necessities where needed.

It was also decided to encourage learners to take part in the project, and various prizes such as cellphones and bicycles were presented to a number of the lucky learners who completed the project.

Present at the function, to hand over the prizes to the winning schools was Cllr Fungheni Mavuyisi of the Thulamela Municipality. She holds the portfolio for education, sports, arts and culture. Also present were representatives of Thohoyandou Spar, Makoya and Limpopo Mirror newspaper.

The project is deemed to have been a great success, and through initiatives such as these we can motivate our learners to read, which, in the long-run will cultivate an interest in newspapers, and create a culture of reading that will improve their knowledge of current affairs, and ultimately produce educated adults for the future.