Books are an endless source of knowledge for humanity and have a direct impact on human life. Each book has different topics and fields, but all aim to provide readers with new knowledge and human values. However, as society develops, the emergence of social networks and information technology has made readers, especially young people, no longer interested in reading books.
Remember in April 2023, at Bui Thi Xuan High School ( Ho Chi Minh City), the form of punishment for students was changed. Accordingly, when committing a mistake, instead of writing a self-criticism or doing community service, the violating student will have to read a book from the bookshelf provided by the school and write a review. This form of punishment attracted public attention at that time.
Students who are in the “reading books and writing reviews” category are those who have violated many school rules and regulations and need a specific punishment so that they can “absorb” and correct their mistakes. They sit still and read books for 45 minutes and have 2 days to complete and submit their reviews to the school. The punishments are ultimately to make students aware of their wrong behavior, thereby changing in a positive direction. And the result is that even the punished students are interested in this new way of doing things. From there, they know that the school has many good books, enriching their knowledge and gradually forming the habit of making friends with books.
As the curriculum becomes more and more diverse and after school hours, students put down their textbooks and get absorbed in computer screens, games, and entertainment, improving reading culture is still an arduous journey. According to a survey by the Department of Publishing ( Ministry of Information and Communications ), on average, each year, a Vietnamese person only reads 2.8 books and 7.07 newspapers, much lower than other countries in the region and the world. In another report by the Library Department (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), the percentage of people who do not read books at all is 26%, the percentage of people who occasionally pick up books to read is 44%, and those who read regularly is 30%. Library readers account for about 8-10% of the population. The above statistics show that the reading habits of Vietnamese people have not been firmly formed. We still do not have appropriate reading habits and skills, but mainly read spontaneously.
Every year, when “Vietnam Book and Reading Culture Day” (April 21) comes around, we see localities and schools launching and organizing book exhibitions. These activities have partly raised the awareness of the entire political system and all classes of people about the role and importance of books in social life. However, to build a love of books, the habit of reading must be maintained daily and regularly.
The new school year has passed for a month, hopefully the green libraries in schools will be quickly restarted and have reading encouragement sessions for students. Along with that, training should be organized for managers and staff directly in charge of school libraries to improve library skills, help the library operate effectively, create excitement and attract more and more students to read books and newspapers. In addition, schools should organize reading promotion activities such as book introductions, storytelling competitions based on books, storytelling based on topics, presenting writing and drawing products based on books, giving rewards to students who read many books, etc.
No matter how developed society is, other ways of storing information may develop, but keeping books and understanding the importance of books will help society become more civilized. Therefore, every day we need to try to practice and entertain ourselves by reading books to make life more interesting.
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