Letter of the Day | Make reading fashionable

THE EDITOR, Sir:

Jamaica is not a reading country!

I'm sure that this is no novel idea, but I am also sure that most of us have been doing little, or quite frankly, nothing, to rectify this problem. I have a few suggestions:

1. I think that the media has forgotten how important and influential it is, and I certainly do not think they are doing enough to create a culture of reading in our country. I suggest that all media houses have at least 30 minutes of a creative reading programme aimed at engendering a love of reading in the population.

2. The Ministry of Education must stipulate 20-30 minutes of reading in all public schools (grades 1 to 13) where students sit in silence for the duration and read books or magazines, of course, vetted by the schools. I currently live and teach in Japan, and in every public school in the country, students have to sit and read in silence every morning before classes officially begin. The ministry needs to insist that this is done in schools.

3. The private sector that usually invests so much of its money into sports needs to invest in reading. We need to have more national book fairs, far more national reading competitions, and investments in and championing libraries. They need to create apps and products that encourage and challenge people to read while they win rewards.

4. Musicians and artistes need to make a concerted effort to help those who consume their art: promote reading until it becomes fashionable. They need to understand the impact they have on the lives of especially teenage males, who by and large eschew reading.

Many bright people are in Jamaica who can conceive even better reading ideas than I have. A culture of reading does not happen overnight. We need to start now if we are really serious about achieving Vision 2030. The Government needs to act fast; it needs to act now!

Andre Bruff

Educator