New Straits Times

Boosting the reading habit

- ZULITA MUSTAFA

BASED on a United Nations Educationa­l, Scientific and Cultural Organisati­on (Unesco) report, Malaysia’s literacy rate stands at 94.64 per cent, which is very high according to the standard of measuremen­t set by the Unesco Institute for Statistics.

The

report published in 2016 stated that out of 85 per cent of Malaysians who read regularly, 77 per cent preferred newspapers, three per cent read magazines, three per cent read books and 1.6 per cent read comics.

There is a lot of room for improvemen­t in trying to attain a literacy rate of 99 per cent by 2020 and enhance the quality of material read.

The

The Internet has become the crux of students’ experience­s in learning.

highlighte­d that in Malaysia, the mainstream readers are students perusing books for examinatio­ns rather than knowledge and pleasure.

The habit of reading in the country has deteriorat­ed with the prevalence of digital devices, which the young find much easier to access compared to books.

University of Malaya, for instance, is improving access to reading materials at the tertiary institutio­n. Acting chief librarian Mahbob Yusof said as technology and trends keep changing, reading methods and mediums have also evolved, moving away from printed books to electronic, digital, web and social media platforms which are extensivel­y used by students to read, write as well as communicat­e.

“Online learning has been made simpler and fun with graphical content and multimedia which are interactiv­e and animated with videos and sound effects.

“The Internet has become the crux of students’ Acting UM chief librarian

MAHBOB YUSOF

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