The Guardian

London, July 25:

Every British child up to the age of four is to get a free bag of books under a GBP27 million government scheme designed to promote reading. The education secretary, Ruth Kelly, will announce the initiative during a speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) in London on Monday. She will outline plans to hand out nine million free books over the next three years. Well-known children’s favourites will be distributed alongside less familiar titles in an attempt to develop a lifelong passion for reading among British children. The scheme will be run through the charity Booktrust. Kelly said, “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. All the evidence shows that children whose parents are engaged in their learning do better at school.’’ Ms Kelly’s speech will focus on improving social mobility and comes amid a major review of the way children are taught to read. She is expected to tell the IPPR that helping children when they are very young is the key to overcoming class barriers and that children from poorer backgrounds need more targeted help at school. The latest injection of cash follows criticism that too many pupils leave primary school without basic literacy skills. Yesterday Emily Butt, a spokeswoman for Booktrust, said Ms Kelly’s announcement would mean millions of extra families received free books. “This is wonderful news,’’ she said. “We currently supply one bag to babies when they are about eight months old but with this new funding we will be able to distribute bags for older children as well.’’