Celebrating the month of reading

 This is World Literary Month with September 8 designated as the World Literacy Day.
That such a month is being observed, in a world dominated by computers which are fast replacing the habit of reading among the young and not so young, is an encouraging sign. It clearly sends out the message that there are people out there, who still believe in the magical power of books, and their ability to shape and transform their lives, in a way that no computer or machine can.
Ever since man invented the printing machine and books became accessible to the masses, instead of a few privileged persons, books have become man’s best friends. They have enabled us to travel thousand of miles simply seated on our armchairs.
Which was why St Augustine said, “The world is a book… and those who do not travel read only a page,” while Aldous Huxley believed, that, “The proper study of mankind, is books.”
With the proliferation of the TV, video games and other modern day technology, the reading habit among the young in this country, is likely to die out as it has already happened in the West.
That is unless we initiate meaningful steps to prevent this tragedy from taking place.
To keep alive the habit of reading in Sri Lanka, there are, however, some basic requirements that must be met. Firstly, every student in this country must be given free and fair access to learning the English language. This is not because we wish to relegate our vernacular languages to a secondary place, but because the vast majority of books, whether as supplementary text books for students, or classical novels, are still largely confined to the English language. The few translations of good classical literature into the vernacular, do not for the most part do justice to the original books.
Secondly, we need good well stocked libraries, beginning at school level. As an anonymous writer wrote, “A library is a hospital for the mind.”
Libraries also require inspired, well read librarians, who can guide young readers along the correct paths, instilling in them a genuine thirst for reading.
Children, who borrow books from a library, must be encouraged to make their own comments on the books they have read. This is where the role of the teacher comes in. Keeping aside one period of the week for discussing books, can only serve to stimulate their young minds, and deepen their interest for reading.
Certain countries in the West, offer summer vacation courses in reading. Teachers are given guidelines on children’s books as well as teaching kits and even incentives like freebies and free DVD’s to be shared by the students.
Sri Lankan education authorities, who are now trying to restore English teaching to its proper place in our schools, could do well to emulate this example.
Books are the most treasured legacies that any author can leave behind him, so that they may pass on from one generation to another. It is said that, “ People die, but books will never die”.
As a nation of book lovers, it is thus our collective responsibility to make sure that the habit of reading books be restored to its erstwhile pride of place which it occupied in the time of our parents and grand parents.
The World Literary Month is a good time to work towards that goal.

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