National Reading Decade to be launched next year
PUTRAJAYA: The Education Ministry has a long to-do list to promote reading in Malaysia under the 10-year National Reading Decade (DMK) 2021-2030 programme.
Its minister, Dr Maszlee Malik, said the DMK programme, scheduled to be launched early next year, aimed to turn Malaysia into a reading nation by 2030.
“Nonetheless, work will start from now to 2020, with focus on the DMK campaign,” he said at the pre-launch of DMK yesterday.
Strategies to implement DMK, he said, would include establishing networks and mobilising programmes to encourage reading in schools, public interest spots, shopping centres, public transport and hospitals.
“Just imagine, if we can have reading corners in all these places, even at petrol stations, R&R stops, mamak shops and fast-food chains, where people can access and donate books,” said Maszlee, adding that consideration should be given to underprivileged groups, who were qualified to receive tithes and other aid, for their children to be given books.
He said reading ambassadors would be appointed under the #MalaysiaMembaca slogan, which would be popularised nationwide, adding that there was a need to translate more great works into Bahasa Malaysia and vice-versa, as well as provide incentives, including tax exemption for programmes to encourage reading, and contributions to the development of libraries and the book industry.
He said steps would be taken to have better access to e-books via libraries, free e-book zones, digital magazines, as well as libraries for audio books and braille books.
On Malaysians’ reading habits, Maszlee said people read 15 books a year based on an interim report on Malaysian reading habits in 2014, compared with two books a year in 2007.
He said Malaysians’ literacy rate stood at 94.94 per cent based on the Unesco Institute for Statistics’ Adult and Youth Literacy National Regional and Global Trends 1985-2015.
A study by the Central Connecticut State University, titled “The World’s Most Literate Nation”, had ranked Malaysia at the 53rd spot, far behind Singapore, ranked at 36, he said.
“The study has declared the Nordic nations (Finland, Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Sweden) as the most literate nations in the world,” Mazslee said, adding that a great nation is a reading nation.
The government, he said, was planning to set a target for Malaysia to publish 31,700 titles by 2020 compared with 19,713 titles published last year.