Union minister Smriti Irani on Friday said schools solely are not responsible for inculcating reading habits in children but it is also the duty of their families.
Speaking at the opening session of the Indian Publishers Conference, the women and child development minister said there is a tendency to acquire knowledge when there is a goal to be pursued. “Why reading is still essential? Not because you want to pursue something academically but because you want to pursue something inherently to make yourself better. We have stopped teaching that in our society at large. Anything we pursue has to have a goal. How many of us are reading for the joy of reading and not because ‘if I don’t read today my exam will go bad tomorrow’,” Irani said.
Citing her own example, she said her family encouraged her to read as a child by giving her books. “Today we have put the child’s entire responsibility on the school. I was not taught to read a book by my teachers, it was my parents, my grandparents. If we start expecting that only schools should teach a child, are we not abdicating our responsibilities as a family?” she asked. “Why have we shifted the discourse that institutions have to teach our kids. We have to teach.”
The BJP leader also said the habit of reading through physical books should be inculcated instead of digital ones across age groups. Referring to a document issued by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2014, which suggested that the “greatest educational intervention or innovation is education through a device”, Irani said she was circumspect about it at first “because introduction of devices needs to be age-appropriate”.
She added that after nine years of age, there is a recognition that “there is an instance of cognitive decline in a child if the device is introduced too early”. “There is also enough evidence available today medically through research that there is an impact on the cognitive components of even a middle age or an older age individual when you read through a device. It has an impact on the eye, it has an impact on how that information is consumed,” she noted. Organised by the Federation of Indian Publishers, the event brought together industry leaders, innovators, and stakeholders to explore the theme of “India at 2047: The Role of Publishing in Nation Building”.
Over the course of two days, the conference will discuss how publishing contributes to economic growth, employment, and knowledge dissemination. The conference also covered sessions on ‘Quality Education and NEP, ‘Significance of Copyright and Intellectual Property Rights in Publishing’, and ‘Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Publishing’.
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