Daily Times

April 23rd is a symbolic date in world literature. It is the date on which several prominent authors, William Shakespeare, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, and Miguel de Cervantes died. This date deems a natural choice for UNESCO to declare as World Book and Copyright Day to pay a worldwide tribute to books and authors on this date, encouraging everyone to access books. Each year, celebrations take place all over the world to recognize the scope of book reading – a link between the past and the future, a bridge between generations and across cultures. Unfortunately, no significant activity has been organized on a provincial or national level in Pakistan this time which depicts the lugubrious state of affairs on both state and societal levels and an overall woozy attitude towards book reading.

Reading is a crucial component in vocabulary enrichment and character development. It is the foundation for developing and maturing into a well-organized individual. People study for various reasons, including enjoyment, expertise, need, record-keeping, and research, thus, it is a remarkably participatory activity. Reading, in general, entails both word pronunciation and comprehension of the information. They complement one another – if one is the body, the other is the soul and quintessence of it. Good reading habits provide pupils with a powerful tool for success in life. Thus, reading should be a priority for everyone – children, teachers, and parents alike – since reading as a component of language significantly impacts a child’s whole development, including his capacity for thought and cognitive growth.

Reading culture cannot be established just based on one’s ability to read and write. When it comes to creating a reading culture, reading must play a substantial part in a person’s day-to-day life and become a habit. A reading culture is defined as a style of life characterized by the habit of reading widely and deeply. The habit of reading may be developed at a young age as early contacts between parents and their children positively affect their children’s reading abilities.

Reading is a crucial component in vocabulary enrichment and character development.

There are polygonal challenges in Pakistan in both reading and library culture. Socioeconomic factors include limited access to education, leading Pakistan to a lower inclination towards reading. The lack of educational opportunities affects the literacy rates of our youth. Financial factors include economic challenges as the people facing hiked prices prioritize basic needs over educational and cultural pursuits. People do not find time to visit libraries or buy books for reading. Infrastructure and resource constraints are also there as in Pakistan, most districts need well-established and well-equipped libraries, and the absence of adequate infrastructure hinders people’s access to reading materials and library services.

Likewise, cultural priorities are also a leading factor in diminishing reading culture in our society as we have witnessed that in every big city, you will find cinemas, hotels and parks, and food streets but very rarely can you find a library for the general public. Most people in developing countries prefer the latest fashion instead of buying books. The language barrier also hinders our society’s reading habits as very few people can read and speak English, and libraries need cultural books in Sindhi, Pashto, Urdu, Hindko, and so on. This can also affect the reading habits of our youngsters.

Social media is also a pivotal component in overall reading culture as it has both positive and negative effects on students’ reading habits. On one hand, social media can provide access to a large amount of reading, including books, articles, blogs and news. Students can easily find and share reading resources on social media as it also facilitates the creation of online reading communities where students can interact with others with similar interests and participate in discussions and debates about their reading.

Additionally, social media can encourage reading for fun by promoting reading as a social and enjoyable activity. Book recommendations, reviews and reading challenges can be shared on social media, which can encourage students to read more and learn about different genres and authors. However, excessive and inappropriate use of social media can have a detrimental effect on students’ reading habits. Frequent distractions from social media notifications can reduce students’ concentration and make it difficult to focus on complex texts. Shallow reading habits can develop as students become accustomed to reading short, easily digestible information on social media. As a result, critical thinking skills may decline and students may struggle with complex texts that require sustained attention and unabridged analysis.

Additionally, students who spend too much time on social media may lose interest in reading because they are used to instant gratification and engagement with superficial information. Thus, social media has the potential to promote reading among students, it is important to use it responsibly and in moderation to avoid negative consequences.

One of the key challenges in promoting a reading culture in Pakistan is getting children interested in reading but before that, it is pertinent to gauge and enhance their capabilities of reading and comprehension. For this, solid, evidence-based, and data-driven observations are required so that consequent policies can be made from those findings. In this regard, ASER which is an independent citizen-led consortium is playing a pivotal role in analysing the trend of children’s learning abilities. In their latest report published in March 2024 encompassing the data till 2023, some prodding results have surfaced which indeed are eye-opening for policymakers.

According to the report, only 24 per cent of children from the poorest quartile are at a level where they can read a simple story in Urdu, whereas, 43 percent of children from the richest quartile can do that. Likewise, 25 percent of children from the poorest quartile can read a sentence in English, whereas 41 percent from the richest quartile can do that. It is not surprising then that learning outcomes would be different for children from different income strata of society.

It is worth noting that for Urdu and Arithmetic learning nationally, a larger percentage of children know how to read a story in Urdu or do division in 2023 (50 percent and 46.3 percent respectively) as compared to in 2014 (46.4 percent and 40.4 percent respectively). However, in 2019, before the pandemic hit, the percentage of children who could read an Urdu story had improved by 12.7 percentage points. However there is a noticeable decline in learning outcomes after the pandemic (comparing 2019 to 2021) in both Urdu and Arithmetic outcomes nationally and, similarly, there appears to be another declining trend between 2021 and 2023.

(To be Concluded)

The writer is associated with The Punjab School (TPS) Lahore. She writes on gender, education, and social issues. She can be reached at ghaniausman786@gmail.com.