Reviving the love of books: CM urges parents to instil reading habits in children

Five-day book fair commences at Expo Centre

KARACHI: The love of books and reading must be instilled in the younger generation because it is the only way to inculcate the spirit of humanity, coexistence and respect for others, said Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah at the inaugural ceremony of the 25th Karachi International Book Fair at Expo Centre on Thursday.

Aziz Khalid, the chairman of the Pakistan Publishers and Book Sellers Association (PPBSA), echoed these sentiments, saying the book fair promoted values, humanity, tolerance and civilisation within society. "The purpose of this book fair is to make our youth and students realise that they should play a fundamental role in the development and progress of our country and nation by acquiring knowledge and skills in different fields, he added."

The chief minister lamented that the hunger to read the best books, which used to be present in the older generations, had disappeared. "This is evident from the fact that there is hardly any young person sitting in the audience here," he said. "We will have to revive our old culture of finding the best books in the shelves of libraries, in the corners of bookstores, on pushcarts and on footpaths where old books were displayed on weekends."

Sindh’s higher education sector hostage to one man’s whims

Reminiscing about his days as a student, he recalled that university libraries in Pakistan only allowed students to borrow two books at a time and, upon graduating, made them show a clearance certificate from the librarian before they could receive their degrees. "When I was enrolled in an American university, I went to the library and asked the librarian how many books I could borrow there," he went on. "She replied, as many as you can carry. This is the difference between them and us."

According to Shah, universities in Pakistan should adopt similar policies about books to help students excel, adding that while he was studying in the United States, he saw books about Pakistan in the library that had never been seen or displayed here.

The digital age

The chief minister pointed out that in today's world, most students read books on mobile phones, iPads and laptops. While he believed that the satisfaction and joy that came from reading a printed book could not be found in digital books, he said that he was not discouraging anyone from reading digital books. He added that he was planning to establish a digital library in an existing library or a separate one with a café, garden and other facilities.

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The five-day book fair, organised by the PPBSA in association with the National Book Foundation, features 330 stalls with books on a variety of subjects. It will be open for visitors from 10am to 9pm until December 9.

Education in Sindh

Talking to the media, Shah said that he was working hard to fill vacant teaching positions in Sindh. "There are over 7,000 vacant positions and we are planning to recruit the best teachers through third parties," he said. He claimed that the education system only lacked good teachers while the government was already providing the best salary structure, facilities and working atmosphere in schools.

In response to another question, the chief minister said that the provincial education department was struggling to change the existing norms where people wanted to have teachers transferred from one school to another. He said that they had banned the transfer of teachers prior to the end of the academic session.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2019.