It is an unfortunate reality that a monumental death in the reading culture is currently bedevilling our country and we are paying a hefty price for it.
Scores of young people abhor reading and are hooked to the Internet and social media.
The overall effect of this is we are raising a generation that can hardly express itself efficiently through both writing and speaking. Employers on the other hand have raised a red flag of a crop of educated young people who display paucity of effective communication skills.
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Indeed, scholars continue to decry the apparent death in literary creativity in the country which they have linked to poor reading culture that starts in schools and in institutions of higher learning. As a country that largely depends on a well-trained and knowledgeable human capital for economic take off, a healthy culture of reading cannot be overemphasised.
Children are exposed to excessive screen time at a tender age hence they grow up hooked to the screens whenever they are at home. We live in homes that do not have libraries but have gargantuan TV screens and music systems and as such, children grow up averse to reading.
In schools, teachers take their fair share of blame for the poor reading culture. Scores of teachers do not encourage reading as a hobby among the learners. They mainly promote the reading that results into retention of learning content for the sake of excellence in exams.
Libraries in our schools are only full of course books and the so-called revision materials. Rarely would you find our libraries stocked with a wide range of reading materials both fiction and nonfiction.
Consequently, scores of learners graduate from our schools having read nothing outside the course books and prescribed set texts in literature. This habit is carried to universities and colleges.
Ironically, scores of our teachers are not role models in reading. During this long December holiday, reading—not just academic revision—should be part of home routines.
Teachers must also inspire wider reading beyond prescribed materials. As professionals, they should be ardent readers, guiding learners towards curiosity and exploration. Schools, too, should invest in well-stocked libraries.
This is the surest way of turning around the worrying trend of poor reading culture.
The writer is a senior school teacher of English
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By Vivere Nandiemo