Sreemangal hosts final round of Book Reading Festival

Collected Photo

SREEMANGAL, MOULVIBAZAR, Sept 20 : The final-round examination of the Book Reading Festival-2026 was held on Saturday morning at Victoria High School in Sreemangal Upazila of the district, with 740 students from 38 educational institutions and the open category taking part.

The festival, held under the slogan “Read Books, Shape the Mind,” aims to encourage reading, develop regular reading habits and promote a knowledge-based society. Participants were tested on their understanding of books they had read as part of the programme.

Students from schools as well as registered readers in the open category took part. After the exam, Moulvibazar-4 Constituency MP Mujibur Rahman Chowdhury and Sreemangal Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Md Ziaur Rahman spoke with participants.

UNO Md Ziaur Rahman said students from classes six to 12 at 38 institutions participated, alongside people who were born or had worked in Sreemangal. He said the festival was exposing participants to literature, art, culture and the ideas of Bangladeshi and international writers and thinkers.

Organisers said the festival had also revived school libraries and encouraged students to spend less leisure time on short-form social media content and more time reading, with reading circles forming at several schools.