ISLAMABAD: Book reading habits among the youth have been witnessed a sharp decline due to the extensive use of Information Technology (IT), including electronic gadgets such as cell phone, television, radio, computer, Internet, tablet, and ipad.
Talking to APP on Thursday , Liaqat Ali, a Ph.D researcher at International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI), said that the education system and reading practices at classroom level were not encouraging for the students to develop reading habits or taste for general reading.
Muhammad Husnain, who is doing M Phil also from IIUI, said that gone were the days when students used to read in street light and candle light till late night. "Majority of the students, nowadays, adopt short-cuts. Their main objective is to pass the exams and for the purpose they go through short notes from Wikipedia and other websites," he said. Even at bookstalls too, he added, the students were usually found searching for guess papers, guide books, and answer keys. "They just get surface knowledge and lack deep understanding about their subjects," he added.
Head of the English Language Center (ELC), IIUI, Dr. Muhammad Sheeraz said that reading was a receptive skill which should be used for developing critical thinking. He, however, regretted that comprehension had not been given its due importance in the curriculum.
He said libraries played a significant role in developing `reading culture' among the students. However, these days, book reading culture had become obsolete as hardly a few students could be seen even in the national level libraries of federal capital, he added.
Waseem Shah, a student of NUML, said in urban setting, "people don't have enough space to keep printing books. It is better to go for e-book reading from electronic devices."
He said the youth spent most of their timings either surfing on internet, using social media including Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Blogging, good reads etc. "They make access to books, newspapers, and other reading materials on Internet, but it is difficult to read from the screen of electronic gadgets for a long time. Extensive reading practice from the screen also affects eye-sight of the readers."
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