Books handed to students of six Thakurgaon schools as bKash-Bishwo Shahitto Kendro reading programme expands

The book-reading programme run jointly by bKash and Bishwo Shahitto Kendro has been expanded to Thakurgaon district. The programme aims to build a reading habit among school students and encourage creative thinking.

Under the programme, 40,000 books are being distributed to educational institutions across the country this year. In Thakurgaon, books were recently given for students of six institutions in the district as part of that effort.

The institutions that received books are Haji Kamrul Huda Chowdhury Girls' High School, Collectorate Public School and College, Eco Pathshala and College, R.K. State High School, Chowdhury Mohammad Ayub Girls' High School and Mathurapur Public High School.

At a ceremony jointly organised by bKash and Bishwo Shahitto Kendro at ESDO's Joynal Abedin auditorium, Thakurgaon Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate Mohammad Rafiqul Haque and District Education Officer Md Shahin Akhtar handed the books to the students.

Also present were Bishwo Shahitto Kendro executive director Khondkar Md Asaduzzaman and Humayun Kabir, EVP and head of bKash's Regulatory and Corporate Affairs division, among others.

To make reading more popular, a quiz competition on contemporary topics was also arranged for students of classes six to ten. About 450 students attended the event.

At the end of the ceremony, the guests handed prizes to the winners of the quiz competition.

Bishwo Shahitto Kendro has long run the reading programme across the country to take students beyond their textbooks — building knowledge, imagination and human values so they grow up as enlightened people.

bKash joined the programme in 2014 to make that purpose wider and more effective.

So far, more than 400,000 books have been distributed nationwide under the programme, benefiting more than 3.2 million readers at around 3,000 educational institutions.