World Book Day 2025: NRW starts large reading promotion for children!

World Book Day 2025: NRW starts large reading promotion for children!

On April 23, 2025, the World Book Day will be celebrated to promote reading pleasure in children and adolescents. North Rhine-Westphalia (North Rhine-Westphalia) participates in large actions that aim to sustainably increase reading skills. This is particularly important because numerous studies show that many children and adolescents in Germany are unable to develop the necessary reading skills. Reading capacity is considered a key competence for educational success, such as n-tv.de reported.

As part of these efforts, a mandatory reading time of at least three times 20 minutes per week for primary schools will be introduced from the school year 2023/24 in NRW. This measure is intended to ensure that even the little ones come into contact with books regularly. In addition, the “largest reading festival” in Germany is organized in Germany, in which schools, bookstores and publishers take part.

actions for promoting reading

A central element of this initiative is the "I give you a story", through which school classes are given the opportunity to get books. This year the comic novel "Cool like Bolle" is provided for 1.1 million children in fourth and fifth classes as well as in special school, welcome and transition classes. According to the NRW Ministry of School, around 300,000 children from NRW have recently redeemed their book vouchers, which underlines the great success of this campaign.

In addition, the Federal Association of “Mentor - Die Readershelfer” is actively involved in promoting reading. Volunteers in particular support students with reading difficulties or additional support in schools. This support is carried out in cooperation with local clubs and is funded by the school minister Dorothee Feller. Feller signed a letter of intent with the chairwoman Huguette Morin-Hauser and Andrea Pohlmann-Jochheim. The aim of this agreement is to emphasize the work of the reading and win new mentors and schools in order to improve reading ability.

The role of the lesementors

In North Rhine-Westphalia, 5,660 mentors are currently active at 1,031 schools who support over 7,170 reading children. This individual and long -term reading promotion, which lasts at least one year, complements the lessons and should be guided through regular personal meetings to the targeted support of the children. This structure is of crucial importance, since studies show that about every fourth child in fourth grade has difficulty reading.

writer Sasa Stanisic was appointed as the new patron of the World Book Day and sets a sign of reading promotion, especially for children who learn to read under difficult conditions. Stanisic brings his perspective into the discussion and supports the initiative to underline the significant role of reading for school and social success.

Overall, the promotions in North Rhine -Westphalia and the support from volunteer mentors represent a promising step towards improved reading skills. The combination of school education and support through initiatives such as "I give you a story" and mentoring is of great importance for the development of young people in today's society, which is increasingly dependent on reading skills.