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| Monday, 8 September 2003 |
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Today is Sahitya Day : Reading habit should be encouraged in schools by Andrew Scott September 8 marks the annual Sahitya Day and there is no better time to focus our attention on creating a new awareness in reading, particularly due to the addiction to TV and computers, especially the younger generation in Sri Lanka is being gradually but surely weaned away from the reading habit and this will bear very disastrous effect on the culture and knowledge of the entire country. It is really pathetic that in modern Sri Lanka, the school going children and the young adults - even those in the universities do not pay any attention to cultivate the reading habit and they consider reading as a mere wastage of time. On the other hand, they continue to spend more time before the computers and TVs. It is not surprising that particularly some young people do not care to read even a daily news paper! Reading is the last choice as a recreational activity for most children as well as some adults and most of them do not even care to discuss the great joy that can be found between the covers of a good book. Therefore, it is essential that particularly in our schools reading habits should be encouraged and nurtured. Basic skills The teaching of reading in schools should focus attention firstly on the development of basic skills, especially the word development techniques should be emphasised. The most essential thing in cultivating the reading habit is to create a genuine interest in reading and how to enjoy through the act of reading. It is of not much use in teaching children to read if the skills of reading are not to be used in their later lives. Emphasis should also be laid on the use of reading in our daily lives. It is only the young people who accept the joy and value of habitual reading that carry on the habit of reading into their adult lives. The home should necessarily be the origin of creating interest in reading and parents could do much to encourage their children to read intelligently. Next the schools can do much to promote the reading habit. It must be kept in mind that an interest in reading does not develop in a vacuum. It is always founded on personal interests. For instance a student who is interested in dogs would always prefer to read a book on dogs. Thus the first step in arousing an interest in reading is to stimulate the child with life and the world around him. When we consider this fact the home is a very important factor in creating an interest in reading and it is in one's home that a positive attitude towards reading can be created in the minds of children. The parents of all children should provide an environment for the fostering of healthy reading habits. An interest to read should be as natural to a child as watching TV or a computer and to achieve this, a powerful home environment for reading has to be built. It is also important that the parents who are keen to foster the reading habit among their children should themselves know something about books and authors. For the younger children the parents should choose the books and a child's first books should be attractive and should contain accurate descriptions with coloured pictures. Later a broad variety of books are necessary to enhance the child's horizons in reading. At the same time, children must be taught to treat books with care and respect. Of course, a child's fear of damaging books should not be allowed to interfere with his desire to handle them and to read them to get the maximum benefit. When a child enters a school, teachers (specially the teachers of languages), should take the responsibility to stimulate the child's interest in reading. During the school going days itself, children should be encouraged to build a personal library with one's favourite books and periodicals. Opportunities to read A teachers' attitude is a very significant feature in improving a student's love for reading. Wherever possible, opportunities to read for enjoyment in the classroom itself should be provided and a daily period devoted entirely for reading will not be out of place in any school. This would provide each pupil an excellent opportunity for exploiting his needs to improve his reading skills. While the taste for reading should be groomed from the very young days reading for life plays an important part in the lives of every one of us. Teaching children to read can be very challenging and activities involved could be planning and implementing lessons, designing and preparing special reading materials, diagnosing reading problems and providing remedies for them and the teacher himself could be a reading model by reading aloud to the children and discussing books with them. A good dictionary is a useful tool for all readers and one should be easily available when one reads. In addition to the dictionary an encyclopedia should also be available. It is only then that one could develop a skill to find information in books. Of course computers also be used for the purpose; but they should be made use of intelligently. |
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