{"id":90553,"date":"2025-11-20T15:46:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T15:46:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/gambia-to-organise-reading-competition-in-december"},"modified":"2025-11-20T16:04:02","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T16:04:02","slug":"gambia-to-organise-reading-competition-in-december","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-to-organise-reading-competition-in-december","title":{"rendered":"Gambia to Organise Reading Competition in December"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>Gambia will organise a national reading competition slated to take place on 1st December at Motherland, organisers announced recently.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The upcoming \u201cRead Gambia Read-A-Thon 2025\u201d is expected to bring together students from senior secondary schools, colleges, and universities in a bid to revitalise the country\u2019s reading culture.<\/p>\n<p>At a press conference held ahead of the event, founder Modou Lamin Almusaf Sowe said the Read-A-Thon was inspired by concerns that, despite Gambia\u2019s strong reputation for peace, hospitality, and growing educational achievements, the country continues to lag in global reading standards.<\/p>\n<p>He noted that The Gambia has never participated in any international reading competition, a situation he described as a \u201cworrying gap\u201d for a country striving to strengthen its human capital. Sowe urged stronger collaboration with the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education to ensure Gambian readers can compete on global platforms. \u201cWe have solid education policies and great potential, but reading remains one of our weakest areas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Read-A-Thon Secretary Jamilatou Jallow said the initiative was designed to fill that long-standing void by building excitement and national pride around reading. She explained that the competition will feature young people aged 16 to 30, who will battle for top prizes and the opportunity to represent The Gambia in an upcoming Guinness World Record reading challenge.<\/p>\n<p>According to her, organisers have already engaged 32 schools across the Kombo area, with more expected to join before the competition day. She emphasised that the event is not only a contest, but a national call to improve literacy.<\/p>\n<p>Jallow highlighted that the country\u2019s literacy levels, based on UNESCO\u2019s latest estimates, stand at about 60 percent, with a sharp disparity between genders. Male literacy is estimated at 75 percent, while female literacy remains around 50 percent, reflecting a significant gap in access and learning outcomes. \u201cThese numbers show how much work remains to be done,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>She added that although transitional reading levels show promising signs, with rates around 53 percent, the overall national reading culture still requires a sustained push.<\/p>\n<p>Organisers say the Read-A-Thon will serve as a launchpad for a broader movement aimed at encouraging young Gambians to read more, compete more, and place the country on the global literacy map.<\/p>\n<p>The December 1 event is expected to gather hundreds of participants, teachers, and supporters as The Gambia takes a decisive step toward strengthening its reading tradition.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Gambia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. Gambia will organise a national reading competition slated to take place on 1st December at Motherland, organisers announced recently. The upcoming \u201cRead Gambia Read-A-Thon 2025\u201d is expected to bring together students from senior secondary schools, colleges, and universities in a bid to revitalise the country\u2019s reading culture. At a press conference held [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":90552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-90553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-culture-and-art","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Gambia to Organise Reading Competition in December - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gambia will organise a national reading competition slated to take place on 1st December at Motherland, organisers an ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-to-organise-reading-competition-in-december\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gambia to Organise Reading Competition in December\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gambia will organise a national reading competition slated to take place on 1st December at Motherland, organisers an ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-to-organise-reading-competition-in-december\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-20T15:46:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-20T16:04:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/11\/sm_1763641996.914621.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"349\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-to-organise-reading-competition-in-december#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-to-organise-reading-competition-in-december\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Gambia to Organise Reading Competition in December\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-20T15:46:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-20T16:04:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-to-organise-reading-competition-in-december\"},\"wordCount\":408,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-to-organise-reading-competition-in-december#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/11\/sm_1763641996.914621.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"culture and art\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-to-organise-reading-competition-in-december#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-to-organise-reading-competition-in-december\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/gambia-to-organise-reading-competition-in-december\",\"name\":\"Gambia to Organise Reading Competition in December - 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