 |
In an earlier guest column I wrote in The Telegraph, I talked about the fundamental role of reading skills and habit for education. I talked about how many children either drop out of school or are unable to get anything out of the education they receive because they cannot read. Reading is fundamental to learning and all educators aver that if one creates reading interest in a child and provides access to books, the child will take care of herself.
In that sense, reading skill and habit is self-empowering. Government policies, such as the National Curriculum Framework 2005 and the NCERT also emphasise on the importance of reading.
It does seem puzzling, therefore, why reading is such a problem and how reading has not been given enough importance given its significance, which was never less, though it may have received greater acknowledgement recently. But there are still many people who do not appreciate the value of reading. Most teachers and educators in schools and parents at home do not recognise the values in reading and do little to promote it.
The genius and successes of the Indian education system have been due to arithmetic not reading and writing. To promote reading, therefore, there needs to be a fundamental change in the mindset, which does not attach much value to reading. To bring about this change, it is important to understand why reading has not been given much significance.
In the West, reading has always been given more importance in education because historically the Renaissance in Europe happened with the invention of the printing press and the arrival of a print culture. The Renaissance was accompanied by the Reformation, which became possible due to the printing of the Bible, which replaced the clergy as the interface between the Christians and God. Reading the book became the most important thing. In India, print culture did not arrive with a revolution. The book did not replace the teacher as the interface between the student and knowledge. Traditionally, the teacher (the guru) was always seen as the repository of knowledge.
The printing press arrived in India with the baggage of utilitarian philosophy, according to which facts were important and fiction was not. Since Utilitarianism was a legacy of colonisation, the colonial impact on the postcolonial mind stays even today. The textbooks are important but storybooks are not. Traditionally in India, learning was by shruti (listening) and memory was valorised. That is why probably most people have not seen a fundamental problem with the practice of rote learning.
Studying for exams was always considered important from the colonial period. The native had to pass exams to be in a position of authority. Not surprisingly, even today all children do is study for exams.
During the colonial period, however, the exams were tough and one needed to read a lot to pass. However, with mass education and a dumping down of academic standards, it is easy to get a degree with little reading beyond the textbook.
Since so many are getting degrees, a lot of energy and resources are spent on getting that extra mark that will distinguish the star child from the many, who also pass.
This leads to tuitions beyond school hours, and the child has little time beyond school and tuitions. The advantages of reading are not tangible immediately. They have a cumulative benefit. On the contrary, rote learning for the exams has immediate demonstrable benefits, which is why teachers, parents and community members emphasise those results. Children receive appreciation for securing better marks in exams, but little appreciation for reading more books and better learning. Children also, as a consequence, believe that what is tested in exams is only important for life. The assessment system is also a problem as the assessment system (tests) does not encourage reading, but encourages rote learning. We are not tested on how much we have read or how well we read, but on how much we remember from the little that we have read.
It goes without saying that because of the reasons already outlined, most people including parents and teachers/educators do not appreciate the value of reading. It must be said that parents who are illiterate value reading much more than parents who can read, but do not.
Many teachers and parents do not read themselves, and therefore are not able to infect children with a love for books. Often children have picked up reading because they have found either a parent or a teacher who encouraged and inspired them to read.
Existing pedagogy does not encourage reading even the textbook in class. Teacher teaches from the same textbook, but children are not encouraged to learn on their own. Independent learning, which would lead to the child learning by herself from books, is not encouraged. Very often, this is because the child is not seen as capable of learning independently. Many people are also not sure how to create interest in books among children.
Moreover, it is seen as a basic skill that cannot be taught. Pre-service training does not give the teacher adequate preparation in reading pedagogy, and in-service training also does not address the issue.
There are not many children’s books in Odia particularly for early beginners. Graded readers are absent in Odia. So, children have few books to develop an interest in and get intimidated by the books that are available. Odisha has a unique condition of having many speakers of many languages primarily because of the presence of many tribes.
Therefore, even if there are books in Odia, one will still leave out huge chunks of the population.
And of course, earlier, books were the main escape for the child and the young adult from the world. Now, television and the computer offer a multi-dimensional escape to the child and the young adult, who do not want to read much anymore.
With all these factors, it is not surprising that reading has not been given importance. But it is important that we appreciate the importance of a reading habit and understand the factors, which have come in the way of it. This will ensure a reading culture, and lead to ensuring most of our children and youth benefit from a knowledge economy.
