Reading is a rarity these days

 IT is indeed a rare sight to see a Papua New Guinean child reading a good story book these days.

Fairy tales and adventure stories, which were the most sought-after literature in years gone by, are now a thing of the past and more like ancient history.

In fact, most of our children have never heard of, let alone, read classic stories like Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe.

They may have seen movie versions of Snow White and Robin Hood as well as modern classics like Harry Potter.

But reading the actual story book is out of the question as far as junior is concerned. 

Why read Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs when you can watch Mirror, Mirror at Paradise Cinema in Vision City or buy a DVD version in one of the video shops at the mega shopping centre?

Since the advent of smart phones and Facebook, most school children in this country have turned their backs on the value of reading.

Instead of reading a good story book in their leisure hours, they are busy playing with their smart phones.  

Most children, especially in the cities and towns, would rather communicate with their friends via Facebook or listen to rap and hip hop music on their smart phones than spend quality time reading and learning to write proper English.

Parents could easily blame the mobile phone companies for making smart phones accessible to their children but that would be blaming someone else for their failures to provide proper parental counselling and guidance.

Whether parents like it or not, smart phones and Facebook will be around for a long time and are merely part of the modern lifestyle that we have adopted. 

After all, Papua New Guinea is part of the global community and technological advances in communication, such as mobile phones and computers, are part of the winds of change that are blowing the world over.

Parents who can afford these high-tech toys must choose between what is good for their children’s future and what is not so good.

Buying or not buying your child a smart phone, tablet or laptop computer is a parental decision that bears all kinds of consequences. 

Parents will either gain the benefits or suffer the consequences of their decision.

If well-to-do parents choose to shower their children with expensive toys such as smart phones, tablets and laptop computers, then it is wise for them to provide counselling on their proper use. 

Children should be made well aware of the good and bad effects of these gadgets, just like drugs, alcohol and sex education.

No doubt, responsible parents will ensure that their children use smart phones and computers in ways that will benefit them by expanding their general knowledge to enhance their education.

More importantly, parents should and must ensure that their children spend more time reading books, both fiction and non-fiction, which remain the basis of our education curriculum.

It goes without saying that high tech gadgets will never replace books in the education of our children, at least not for a long time in Papua New Guinea.

Many of us have grown up reading and studying books and we should understand that books are invaluable in our education and personal development. 

That same understanding should be extended to the next generation of citizens who face even greater challenges with the advent of science and technology.

A timely reminder of the value of reading came in the form of the National Book Week, which was celebrated by school children throughout the country last week.

Indeed, it was refreshing to see our children promote the virtues and values of reading books through drama and other fun activities at their schools.

The organisers of this annual event and all schools that took part should be highly commended for giving due recognition to books as a vital cog in our education machinery.

Papua New Guinea is blessed with abundant natural resources but its human resource is the key to future growth and prosperity.

Without a well educated and skilled population, our nation will not be able to cope with the rapid global changes that are taking place in science, technology, commerce and trade.

Therefore, we must ensure that our children receive a good education from the start and books must be an essential part of that.