School Day opened at Belgrade’s 69th International Book Fair for students, teachers, school librarians and others involved in promoting reading and learning. Ivan Ćilerdžić, assistant minister for preschool and primary education, opened the event and said its purpose extended beyond simply displaying books.

“when we talk about books, we are not just talking about pages and written words. We are talking about childhood, growing up, dreams, discovering the world,” Ćilerdžić said.¹ He described books as more than sources of information, arguing that reading offers new stories, knowledge, ideas and aspirations.

The assistant minister also linked reading to social understanding, saying it teaches people “to understand, to empathize, to accept differences, and to see the world through the eyes of other people.”² He presented the fair as a meeting point for education, teaching tools, new ideas and examples of good practice.

The Education Ministry, which is sponsoring the fair of education and teaching tools, used its stand to present projects from four primary schools. They included initiatives on collaborative learning, robotics and programming, entrepreneurship, sport and friendship, and entrepreneurial teaching.

On the fair’s fourth day, scheduled school presentations were also set to focus on violence prevention and inclusion. The program therefore combined the ministry’s cultural message about reading with practical examples of how schools are addressing learning, cooperation and student wellbeing.