Children to be given free books

Monday, 25 July 2005 12:00 AM

Children will be given free books as part of a new drive to promote reading, the government will announce this week.

Under the £27 million scheme, to be unveiled by education secretary Ruth Kelly, children under the under of four will get a free bag of books.

Ms Kelly will detail plans to give out millions of free books over the next three years.

It is hoped the scheme, including both well-known children's books and less familiar titles, will help children to develop a lifelong reading habit.

"A love of reading is having a resurgence but we can't wait until the Harry Potter phase to get parents and their children to share the passion," said Ms Kelly.

The charity Booktrust will administer the scheme, giving out 4.5 million bags of books and nine million books through health clinics, libraries and Sure Start centres.

Ms Kelly will officially announce the scheme in a speech to the Institute of Public Policy Research about the relationship between education and social mobility on Tuesday.

Earlier this year, the government was criticised by the House of Commons education select committee for the "unacceptably high" numbers of 11-year-year olds in England who fail reading tests.

Following the report, Ms Kelly ordered a review of the methods used to teach reading in England, including whether methods such as 'synthetic phonics' should be more widely used.

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