National Reading Month 2021 official theme: “Bawat Bata Bumabasa sa Kabila ng Hamon ng Pandemya”
Elementary and high schools around the Philippines will be celebrating the annual National Reading Month this November. According to an announcement from Department of Education earlier today, the official theme for National Reading Month 2021 is “Bawat Bata Bumabasa sa Kabila ng Hamon ng Pandemya” (“Every Child a Reader Despite the Challenges of the Pandemic”).
The celebration, which is listed in the Department of Education’s official calendar for school year 2021-2022, is customarily managed by a school’s English Department.
In relation to that, November 27 of each year has been declared as “Araw ng Pagbasa” (National Reading Day) through Republic Act 10556. This is in honor of the father of former President Benigno Aquino III, the late Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., whose birth date is November 27, 1932. Read the full text of RA 10556 here.
DepEd prescribed the following activities in connection to the celebration of the National Reading Month in the past years:
- Mystery Reader –
- Exchange Books –
- Reading Camp –
- Reading Academy –
- Reading Challenge –
- Climb the Poetree –
- Planting Reading Trees –
Apart from that, schools can also organize competitions related to the National Reading Month including essay writing, poster and slogan making, creative story telling, spoken word poetry, as well as reading proficiency and spelling quiz bees. Because of the still-ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, these events will still be held virtually just like last year.
It must be noted that November is also the Philippine Book Development Month as stipulated in Proclamation 1436 s. 2007, which was signed by then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.