Cebu City to establish 4 reading centers
At least four reading centers in Cebu City will be established within the year to provide students a free place for studying.
Mayor Edgardo Labella said these four reading centers will be established in Barangays Mabolo, Talamban, Pardo, and one for the mountain barangays.
“It has become a fad now that students study not in their boarding houses or homes. They study outside. That’s why we look for places for additional centers, especially those strategically located that are near to schools and universities,” he told reporters.
Labella led the ribboncutting ceremony for the launch of Big Bad Wolf, an 11-day non-stop sale, at the IEC Convention Center (IC3) in Barangay Mabolo yesterday.
Labella said Big Bad Wolf might donate or the city will purchase books in bulk so that it will be distributed to the reading centers.
“Under our administration which we call as an inclusive kind of administration, one of our programs is to really equip our barangay reading centers with books…It is in reading all these books that we will be equipped in facing this very competitive world,” he said in his speech.
The Big Bad Wolf Book sale is bringing over one million books across multiple genres at 50 percent to 90 percent off.
The biggest book sale will be available to the public for 24 hours today until August 16.
In an interview, Labella said he envisioned that all 80 barangays will have their own reading or study center within his term.
“Some (books) will be donated and we will find out if we could get affordable in volume so we can distribute these to the barangays,” the mayor said.
He said he would also expand these centers to allow those who review for Bar and Board examinations to study in the city’s centers.
Since the city will fill up all regular vacant positions in the city government, Labella said the city will also provide an avenue for workers to review for the Civil Service Commission examinations.
As of now, Labella said he directed City Administrator Floro Casas, Jr. to look for the specific areas where the reading centers will be established.
The four reading centers in the city are expected to be put up before the year ends, the mayor said. —