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Of books and reading
After Christmas and New Year festivities, there is a big rush for books (text books) with the beginning of the school year: The best season for importers, dealers and others in the book trade. Hardly can parents have time to breathe after their lavish expenses during December when some have to spend a fortune on textbooks. However, little or no attention is given to general reading books – so vital for overall learning. The habit, if not the culture, of reading has yet to be encouraged and developed.
That the government has been doing a good job in promoting reading among young people and the population at large cannot be ignored. Most primary schools have their own libraries from where children can take books; secondary and tertiary establishment libraries in addition to academic documentation provide students with a host of books and current magazines for extensive reading.
Regional and municipal libraries are quite well-equipped to cater for the needs of the reading public. Everybody can go and read in their own time on any topic of interest. Should there be any item missing, the librarian can do its best to get it. Once Mr Silarsa, the chief librarian of City of Port-Louis Library, because I could not get “Science and Human values” by J. Bronowsky anywhere, managed to get it from a public library in London. My satisfaction was immeasurable. A big chunk of the municipal budget goes to libraries.
Exhibitions are also organized to bring books on varied subjects to the population. Although several booksellers and publishers frequently display their titles, the presence of Editions de l’Océan Indien (EOI) and Kohinoor Bookshop is remarkable in a given year. ‘Book love’ is a bold initiative by Mr Suresh Ramburn and others to carry out a campaign to bring books to your doorstep. This was stated in a recent radio interview.
Electronic media</B>
In spite of these efforts, results have not been satisfying enough. It is increasingly noticed that electronic media are replacing books among children. Although television and the computer are becoming education channels, reading as a pastime is declining. On their return from school, children immediately turn to their computer or television to watch their favourite games or serials, leaving their library books in their bags or on the table.
Excessive viewing eventually results in idleness, obesity and other problems including degradation of human values. Not being sufficiently exposed to books and reading, these children’s language becomes deficient and poor; they are unable to write sentences without horrible grammar, punctuation and spelling mistakes – never overlooked by examiners.
That electronic media are highly beneficial is unquestionable. They are excellent teaching aids; yet, parental control on the viewing hours of their children and the quality of the films they watch are important. To ask the children not to touch the television and the computer would be most unreasonable. Right from early childhood, constant dialogue between parents and children is essential for healthy development. Parents should stress the importance of watching the news, serials meant for children to acquire knowledge of human values, lives of makers of civilization among others. In conversation, they can suggest names of men and women well-known for their discoveries, inventions, ideas and other heroic deeds as well as some titles of books.
At a later stage of their children’s development, parents have a key role to play – to introduce a love for books and reading. Even a one-year old baby can be exposed to pictures in books and magazines to create interest in the printed page. For bedtime stories, you can place the baby in your lap and read aloud from children’s books. The baby gradually develops so much love for books that it will point to its favourite books and ask you to read over and over again but you should never be tired of it…
When the child attends lower primary, he/she can be introduced to popular illustrated series, which will not simply develop the reading habit but will gradually lead him/her to a voyage of discovery. Here booksellers and librarians may guide you towards the right choice. Later, stories from Holy Books may teach the child exemplary conduct and virtues, instilling human values so urgently needed in today’s education system. Besides, simplified series of the Panchatantra, Aesop’s Fables, Arabian Nights, Fables de La Fontaine, etc. can consolidate the reading habit. Once reading becomes a habit, the child will not be able to do without it.
<B>Soul-stirring books</B>
Next to parents come teachers, who love reading. During their lesson, they can bring in a book or an article from a magazine of lasting value. Language teachers in particular can refer to books by best-seller writers, Nobel Prize, Booker Prize, Pulitzer Prize and Commonwealth Prize winners… This will arouse curiosity and further excite interest in books and reading. Some very good prose writers though not prize winners may be mentioned. While many things you teach in class will have been forgotten with time, your students might remember you for your suggested reading of some soul-stirring books and other publications. Ideas live on.
Textbooks may be indispensable for examination success to get better chances of jobs, but general reading is essential to shape the children in various ways: to give them a good start in life by becoming knowledgeable and good citizens and to enable them to keep growing. “A man who reads is worth ten” is worth remembering. It is then hoped that parents and teachers play their part fully in bringing about a revival of reading among our youth. This will pave the way for a reading culture so desperately needed in our country.
<B>Kaviraj SOHUR</B>
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