KUCHING: Sarawak Children’s Festival (SCF) 2023 has been touted as an excellent platform to unearth the potential in children.
Women and Early Childhood Development Deputy Minister Datuk Rosey Yunus said a total of 11 activity spaces have been provided to showcase the talents of children at their developmental stage.
These spaces are Storyspace, Gastrospace, Makerspace, Fauna Space, Myhero Space, Marketspace, Performance and Cultural Space, Lestari Space, and Gamespace.
“Besides providing room for children to explore their inherent talents, this platform is also seen as a place for them to come together with other children in one location.
“Therefore, the organisation of this programme will continue in Miri, presenting 12 engaging activity spaces for children on Aug 27, followed by Sibu (with eight activity spaces) in the near future.
“We believe that children involved in this programme will receive diverse inputs and benefits,” she said.
She told reporters this after officiating at the SCF 2023 event at the Pustaka Negeri Sarawak compound here Saturday (Aug 19).
During the event, Rosey also inaugurated Wendy’s House, a children’s play hut donated by Jo Williams from BookTrust, United Kingdom, in memory of the late Wendy Cooling.
Wendy Cooling was a teacher, author and anthology expert who was also the founder of Bookstart, one of the key programmes under BookTrust.
Wendy’s House also provides children’s books, many of which were written by Wendy Cooling.
According to Rosey, apart from commemorating the late Wendy, this effort also aims to promote a culture of reading among children.
Simultaneously, she unveiled plans to create a designated space called ‘dango buku’ in several libraries across Sarawak.
She asserted that this initiative aims to cultivate and instill a reading culture in children from a young age.
“While serving as a place for them to ‘bedango’ (play pretend), children will also have the opportunity to read books in that space,” she explained.
SCF 2023, the 6th edition of the event organised by the State Library, is being held over two days from Aug 19.
The programme is packed with various interactive activities for children across the 11 captivating activity spaces.
As such, visitors can look forward to engaging activities, including story sharing by international storytellers from South Korea, Indonesia, and Singapore, through Storyspace.
Also present were the library’s chief executive officer Japri Bujang Masli.
