Author Topic: Call to Promote Reading Among Children  (Read 671 times)

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Call to Promote Reading Among Children
« on: October 07, 2013, 08:11:05 AM »
Call to Promote Reading Among Children
Lahore :October 07: A library could be a rack in a corner of a room or in a shop or a pile of books somewhere in a house. The idea is to promote reading among children and do away with the notion that only a giant structure is indispensable for a library.
This is what one-of-a-kind three days’ moot “Setting up Community Libraries for Children Conference” is about. Organised by Alif Laila Book Bus Society with the support of Sharjah-IBBY Fund for Children in Crisis here at the provincial metropolis, the conference was attended by members of various non-profit organisations (NGOs) from across Pakistan.
The event provided delegates the opportunity to have brainstorming sessions on how to involve and maximise the role of individuals in setting up libraries at community level as well as to suggest innovative ideas in this regard. “This initiative is aimed to take further the concept of a library from personal space to a communal space and to share and celebrate together”, says Syeda Basarat Kazim, the president of Alif Laila Book Bus Society. According to her, as a society we need to collaborate and promote the culture of book reading. “Our children need to fantasise, enjoy, get information and above all dream”, she says while adding “Books undoubtedly elevate the level of a child’s understanding.” Qasim Ibrahim, a volunteer, who is an architect by profession said, there is need of breaking away from the pre-conceived idea of a library which, typically, is housed in an imperial building. He believed this is time to challenge this standard visual concept of a library and create natural place within surroundings of a child which he/she could proudly call a library. “There is no huge funding required as community members can play their role to develop community library for children”, he adds. Academic circles though appreciate the idea of community libraries for children lament over dearth of quality literature for children in Pakistan. They believe that over the years, dearth of good writers for children’s literature has been observed which is unfortunate. According to them, Pakistan lag behind in producing quality literature for children in accordance with their age groups and the same need to be paid due attention. It is pertinent to mention here that according to a recent research conducted by University of London’s Institute of Education (IOE) children who read for pleasure are likely to do significantly better at school than their peers. The process of rationalisation has started at the government schools of the provincial metropolis under which the number of teachers will be rationalised in around 1205 schools of the city. According to EDO Education Pervaiz Akhtar, there are around 18,000 schoolteachers and a student body of around 600,000 in the schools across Lahore. He said the number of teachers would be rationalised in schools as per number of students in a particular school. He added the process would be completed within a month’s time.
As per the rationalisation policy, the surplus teaching and non-teaching staff of a particular school will be transferred to the other institute facing shortage.The news.
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