Are children losing interest in books?

A ten-year-old schoolgirl loves to read books passionately. Her parents are puzzled as the girl spares no time to read whatever book is available to her. She borrows as many books as possible from the school library at a time. As the number of users of the school library is thin, the librarian is happy to lend books more than the allowable limit, although she wonders whether the child can read so seriously. To her relatives, friends, teachers and neighbours, the child is a 'small wonder' as they find it difficult to believe that a 3rd grader in school can be so avid a reader.

Surely, the school girl is an exception as a very small number of her age turns into bookworms, although some love to read various books. They find it a pleasure, and their choices range between fairy tales, science fiction, detective thrillers, adventures and many others. Their parents also encourage them to read books regularly. Some children also like bedtime stories and have developed a good habit of reading them.

Nevertheless, most children nowadays are only seen to read books selected by schools, known as textbooks. These children need more interest in reading non-text books. Many of their parents also find it meaningless to read other books. Some also think going to the library is a waste of time. Instead, these parents feel that the children should spend more time on studying and homework. It is not uncommon to find parents discouraging children from reading books. The opposite scene is also there as some parents struggle with their children to develop the book reading habit.

However, it is difficult to understand children's book-reading tendencies thoroughly as there is no comprehensive national survey in this regard. The National Survey on Children's Education in Bangladesh 2021, jointly conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), provides a sketchy picture. Under the 'reading habit at home' category, the key findings showed that 95.20 per cent of the country's children, aged 7-14 years, read books or are read to at home. This was in 2021. The ratio was 93.30 per cent in 2019. The indicator does not categorically differentiate text and non-text books, and so it can't provide a clear picture of the book reading habits of children.

As all children do not enjoy reading to the same degree or are not able to grab the method of reading at the same pace, the difference in eagerness to read books prevails, which is not a big problem. The main challenge is to develop the habit of book reading as an exciting and enjoyable thing to do for children, especially when they have diverse objects to pass the time. The aggressive explosion of electronic devices, including smartphones, is a big barrier to reading books. When children see that their parents, teachers, other family members and neighbours are using electronic devices relentlessly, they also become eager to use these devices. During the Covid-19 pandemic, online teaching and learning through smartphones have created an absorbing habit of using the devices and ultimately led to device addiction. Some parents also provide smartphones to children from the beginning unaware that device addiction can jeopardise healthy development of their wards' minds.

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