Child profiles and reading

As a part of the Libraries in School Program, an initiative of Bookworm, we have forayed in yet another school from this academic year. This is a school which has almost ninety percentage of children coming from migrant communities. As a part of our ongoing data collection process, we gather basic information about children and their literacy and print background along with nominal background details. I had the opportunity to participate in this child profile exercise for two consecutive Thursdays, the day when our teams engage the children in meaningful library sessions.

I helped fill the required data and began to observe one common trait in a majority of children. None had a culture of print in their homes or surroundings. When I asked them what kind of books they had at home, most said textbooks. If any child did respond by telling me that they had a story book, invariably it would be the library book given by us to them on every Thursday. I also was aware that buying or borrowing books may not have been a priority for most parents as they may be considering it as a luxury. But at the very same level, almost each and every child knew how to operate a tablet or a mobile and browse for movies, games and music. This set me thinking as to how can an interest for reading be built in these children? Children all over now are tempted by the ever changing fast paced technology. And so how can one even try to tempt them to sit and smell the pages of a well worn and well read book or even read something on a phone or a tablet  Should the parents take some onus on themselves to create an interest in books? If not the parents, then the teachers?

WhatsApp Image 2016-10-22 at 09.46.49At this juncture, I realized how lucky was I that in my childhood, wherever I went, there was always an abundance of books for me to browse and read. Every relative always stressed on the importance of reading without actually twisting my arm.. Neither were most of my relatives highly educated nor was my grandmother a literate woman. But, she always made it a point to remove money from her cloth batuwa and buy me a book. Add to this, a mother who read while cooking or maybe I should say, a mother who managed to cook in between pages. I cannot recall being ever told to pick up a book and sit to read. Yet, I read and read. But today when I think of these children, I am saddened that they are yet to discover the magic of reading.

By taking the LiS program to these children,  we are trying to help these children gently develop a connection towards reading and books. And this movement will continue till each child learns to voluntarily pick up a mobile, a tablet or a book and read.

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