Events, dedicated to the Republican holiday “April 23 – National Book Day”

“The surest path to becoming a progressive nation is through reading books.” During the third session of the National Kurultai in 2024, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev emphasized: “First and foremost, we need to cultivate a habit of reading among our youth. Only then we will become a nation of readers ... To raise literacy levels, comprehensive and far-reaching initiatives are needed.” In this regard, the task was set to celebrate “April 23 - National Book Day” in the Republic.

To mark the occasion, all schools across the region held a grand opening ceremony of the holiday, and on April 21 and 22, all educational organizations hosted a variety of activities, including “We all read books” challenge, book exhibitions themed “A Good Book is food for the soul,” and collaborative events with district children’s libraries.

On April 23, in accordance with the recommended action plan from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, schools were tasked with organizing reading events featuring local authors, poets, and public figures. These events, lasting 20–25 minutes, were conducted with active participation of schoolchildren. 

Today, as part of this event, book readings were held in all schools of the region under the motto “Library without borders: Let’s read together.” Famous writers, poets, journalists and aitys-akyns participated in it: Alibek K. Kantarbayev, Adil Aueskhan, Vladimir B. Smetanin, Nadezhda E. Maksimova, Aitmukhambet Kasymov, Dauletberdi Zhekeily, Estai Zhanabai, Kumar Ziyatkhan, Orazai Zhenisuly, Abash Kakenov, Kalymbek Ayan and others.

During the meetings, excerpts from the works of the writers were read aloud, with a strong focus on the educational value of reading books. On 21-23 April, 2025, the region also ran a special challenge titled “Deep into my heart”, inspired by the works of Abai Kunanbayev, drawing in over 30,000 schoolchildren. Meanwhile, the event “Reading together” reached 42,000 participants. A total of 280 book exhibitions were organized in educational organizations as part of the project “A good book is food for the soul”.

Each of these spiritual and intellectual events, blending education with personal development, had a great impact on school students, deepening their understanding of the importance of reading books.