Many Bhutanese are yet to discover the magic, the mystery and the knowledge books have to offer. Reading never was a habit many Bhutanese were fond of. The advent of television and other modern modes of communications have rendered reading even less appealing.
In a bid to inculcate reading habit among the children, schools in Thimphu carry out a series of reading activities. “Reading Month” is one of them.
Our reporter Choni Selden visited Rinchen Kuenphuen Primary School in Thimphu even as the school was winding up the reading month with poetry recitation and other literary activities.
Many students said they read to build up their vocabulary. A handful of them said they read because they enjoy reading.
“My favorite author is Jeremy Stilton, and I like him because he is really fun and it is adventurous. I also like Roald Dahl because he writes about ghost and adventure stories,” said one of the students.
Increasing number of students seems to be taking interest in reading. Libraries, both at school and other publicly available, are seeing more readers. But the number is far too less and libraries often lie underutilized.
The Library Assistant of Jigme Dorji Wangchuck Public Library, Tshering Phuntsho, said they have a weekly reading program for children every Saturday to encourage reading.
Schools have created library periods to make students read books other than their textbooks.
