Books in Prison Trust
Monday 18 June 2007
Good evening. I am delighted to be here at the official launch of the Christchurch programme of the Books in Prison Trust.
My thanks to Lynn Dawson and Celia Lashlie and all those who have been instrumental in bringing this programme to Christchurch.
The Books in Prison Trust has taken on a critical mission to advance reading and literacy in our women's prisons, and to make a difference to inmates by enriching their lives and also the lives of their children and families through books and reading.
There's no doubt that having good literacy skills improves every area of life. By supporting inmates in their desire to learn you empower them and build up their self-esteem and give them the confidence they need to rehabilitate and lead fruitful lives.
When you have good literacy skills its easier to get a job, fill out forms and to make good decisions at the supermarket, and best of all you can interact with your kids and pass on your skills to them. For this reason I am particularly impressed with The Reading With Children programme the Trust has developed. It's superb.
As all parents know, children ask questions, that's the way they learn. All children have two wonderful resources for learning, one is imagination and the other is curiosity. It's the parents job to awaken children to the joy of learning by encouraging their imagination and curiosity. The Reading with Children programme is a great step in that direction for a lot of inmates.
Teaching and learning are not mysteries that can only happen in school. Learning is for life. Lyne Dawson recognised this and was instrumental in setting up these programmes in our prisons. This is a wonderful achievement and the results speak for themselves, when former prisoners go on to more study and some even volunteer to assist other inmates.
I am sure that the programme will be of huge benefit to the inmates of Christchurch Prison.
It gives me great pleasure to officially launch the Books in Prison programme in Christchurch.
ENDS |
