 The thrust to inculcate a culture and love for reading amongst the nation's students received a shot in the arm with the publication of writings by students and teachers as part of the OECS USAID Early Learners Programs Write to Read initiative. Hermadi Mark has that story. The OECS USAID Early Learners Program celebrated a significant accomplishment with the culmination of the Write to Read program. The program was established in 2017 and provided students and teachers across the OECS the opportunity to become offers of books using the region's early childhood curriculum. After a rigorous process of collection and evaluation of submissions, winners were announced and their submissions were published. The St. Lucia Early Learners Program of the Department of Education held a book launch on May 28, 2021, where the student and teacher offers from St. Lucia were recognized and provided with copies of their books. Angel Caglin, the curriculum officer of English at Camdou says, this is the beginning of localizing the literature used in schools. Really we want to look at this as a first step to having more locally authored texts in the classroom, in our classroom libraries, in our school libraries and in our instructional curriculum. So for anyone listening to this program, whether it is today or tomorrow or sometime in the future, consider this the opening ceremony for more publications authored by our students, by our teachers and by our community members. 18 books were displayed, written by 19 students and teachers. The books were published by Caribbean Reads and covered a variety of genres. By providing locally made reading resources, the initiative aimed to create an authentic reading experience for students at the OECS and increase their love for reading. Rafa Gauden is the education specialist in the Education Development Management Unit of the OECS. We recognize that we're putting so much emphasis on buying books from the outside to have children to read. And I know from being a former teacher and working with the Ministry of Education, working with teachers directly, that we have so much talent out there. We have teachers who are superb writers, we have students who are superb writers. And I remember some of my students, when I taught at the Iris Simon Secondary School, students that persons may underestimate, may assume are not necessarily the most capable. And I think back to some of the writings that I got from some of those students and we realize that rather than putting all the emphasis on getting commercial material that is being produced by people who are, for the most part, outside of the region, we need to celebrate our own. Chief Education Officer in the Department of Education, Dr. Fiona Philip-Maya, encouraged the student-office to celebrate their successes. She expressed gratitude to the agencies involved in the initiative and commended them for their dedication to improving education in the region. We cannot live without me on behalf of the Department of Education extending my sincerest gratitude to USAID, UNICEF, OECS, a partner who is family to us, always there with us, as we continue to forge ahead. For me, always with the most significance of children. Education must be about children. What else? Sometimes it's really the others that take the forefront, but we must focus on them. So let me say to you, to everyone here, a job well done. The book launch coincided with Reading Month 2021, which was held under the theme, readers as creators. From the Government Information Service, I'm Hermitie Mark reporting.