THE Department of Education recently culminated its National Reading Month, which seeks to "promote love for reading and to celebrate the diversity of learners and culture through reading."
The Philippine society in general is not very nurturing when it comes to reading. Instead of giving kids something to read after play time or to keep them quiet, people let them play on a handheld device, surf through the computer, or watch television.
Likewise, there seems to be not much effort by influential groups and people to encourage the younger generation to read books.
There is a notion that reading can be boring. We have to change that mindset. The Philippine society must be introduced and given access to quality books that will spark their interests in reading.
Sadly one of the reasons that we do not have proper access to decent books is because we do not have public libraries similar to other developed countries. For instance, if you search for public libraries on Google, you would be jealous of how the libraries of other countries looked like -- filled with books and designed to attract people.
At present, we do not have public libraries that really encourage people to come and learn something new. Not much information is even being circulated that there is even a public library.
The government should also invest in the development of public libraries to entice more people to read. It is therefore quite commendable that Davao City has made efforts to improve its library and attract more people.
There is a need for advocacy groups, the government, and even influential individuals to encourage reading as a way of life. There should be efforts on making people understand that reading is not limited to schools only. There should be efforts made to make people realize that through reading it will allow individuals to make decisions for themselves and develop critical thinking.
The government and educational institutions could probably develop a program where reading of books outside the schools and promote it as a way of life are encouraged.
For our society to move forward and become more mature, efforts must be made to really encourage more Filipinos to read.