Vice President and concurrent Department of Education Secretary Sara Duterte recently led the celebration of the 2023 Pambansang Araw ng Pagbasa (National Day of Reading), where she also introduced a children's book that she penned herself.

In her speech at the event, the VP announced that schools will have a "catch-up day" every Friday, where students and teachers will focus on reading activities and improving comprehension.

"Starting January 12, 2024, every Friday will be catch-up Fridays, particularly for reading," said Duterte.

The day can also be used to help students catch up on other subjects, she added, in order to produce students that are "resilient, good readers and nationalistic." 

Duterte further emphasized that the DepEd needed "to innovate" so that future assessments of the Program for International Student Assessment would show improved results.

One of the program's highlights was the unveiling of "Isang Kaibigan", an illustrated book that the VP and DepEd secretary personally wrote for school-age children.

The opportunity to write "Isang Kaibigan" came about when she was invited to read to students during the celebration's book-reading activity. When the time came to choose an appropriate Filipino author, Duterte decided to write the story herself. 

"Nagpapasalamat ako sa batang Pilipino (I would like to thank Filipino children), for they served as my inspiration to write the book," said VP Duterte. "The school environment is where most of our early social relationships are formed, and the story's main lesson is to help children form valuable, fulfilling and long-lasting friendships."

"I hope that our students can aspire to be – and seek to surround themselves with – dependable friends that remain faithful through good times and bad times," she added.

This year's National Reading Month carried the theme 'Pagbasa: Pag-asa sa matatag na kinabukasan' (Reading: The hope for a resilient future).