32% children read 24 books a year, reveals report

MUMBAI: Three in 10 students aged 6-17 years frequently read 24 non-syllabus books in a year, found a report on children’s reading habits. It said that nine in 10

MUMBAI: Three in 10 students aged 6-17 years frequently read 24 non-syllabus books in a year, found a report on children’s reading habits. It said that nine in 10 children read for pleasure once a week.

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The survey, part of the ‘Kids and Family Reading Report’, surveyed 350 parents on behalf of their offspring in the 0-5 age bracket and 1,402 children aged 6-17. It was conducted by Scholastic, a publishing house, and YouGov, a research institute, between September and October last year. The report released on Friday reflects poor reading habits among children although 87% respondents said that they know they should read more books for pleasure. Only 50% children devote reading time to a book in school on a working day, the report said.

As children grow older, reading competes with many screen related activities, stated the report. “I wish my child would do more things that did not involve screen-time,” said 85% of the parents.

Interestingly, in the digital world, students continue to prefer printed books over e-books (see box). Around 85% children said that they loved it when parents read books to them and 57% said that they didn’t want them to stop.

For the under-whelming numbers in the report, educators blame schools for shrinking library and reading hours in schools, and a dearth of librarians.