Special Reading Initiatives

Many school or class level reading promotion programs are implemented in basic schools in Lithuania. National initiatives also encourage students of all ages to read more, to develop reading skills, and to raise the prestige of reading. Some book publishers and distributors invest in reading promotion campaigns and projects that are carried out by publishers with their own resources or partial financing by national funds or the Lithuanian Publishers Association. Winter holidays in basic schools for several years are accompanied by a campaign initiated by President Dalia Grybauskaitė of Lithuania and carried out using the funds of publishers, booksellers, and readers. All of Lithuania Reads to Kids (based on the international All of Europe Reads to Kids initiative) involves Lithuanian schools, teachers, and students with their parents. Established in February 2014, the European Literacy Policy Network (ELINET) unifies Lithuania and other European countries engaged in literacy policymaking and reading promotion for the purpose of reducing the number of children with low literacy skills and helping to improve reading skills and encouraging students to read for pleasure.⁸