Fewer Thai Children Seen Frequenting Libraries: Education

[webfact]

EDUCATION

Fewer children seen frequenting libraries

Wannapa Khaopa,

Mayuree Sukyingcharoenwong

The Nation

The habit of reading seems to be on the decline among Thais; BMA urged to make efforts to promote the habit

BANGKOK: -- It was about 3pm-4pm on Tuesday. Roads in a community in Bangkok's Khlong Toei district were more crowded as it was the time when students were walking along the roads, some sitting inside pickup vans to go back home after school. Given a choice, most of them would probably prefer to stay at home or go out for other activities, like playing with their friends or playing sports or online games.

Two girls, however, do something different. They read at a small library in the community - an activity that could be admired by parents and even others who see them.

This, in a way, depicts the country's situation when it comes to reading where few children go to a library outside their study hours while most of the children prefer doing other activities.

"More than 10,000 people live or stay in many communities here in Khlong Toei but less than 1,000 of them are members of our library," Arunee Promma, secretary-general of the Sikkha Asia Foundation, told The Nation during a visit to one of its three libraries in Bangkok. Two other libraries are in other areas, and each of them has about 600-700 members.

Associate Professor Kulwara Chupongpairod, a former lecturer at Srinakharinwirot University, with expertise in library science and story-telling to promote the reading habit in children, said Thai people preferred watching or listening rather than reading as that activity required more concentration. The country also lacked professional librarians as young people preferred other jobs that offered more career growth.

About 10-20 people use the library after school or work in the evening at this library, while during weekends there are 20-30 people, according to Arunee.

Arunee said the majority of the members were children from kindergarten to Prathom 6 (Grade 12), and the foundation had done activities considered enjoyable and interesting for the children such as story-telling, games and rewards to draw more of them to try reading and enter the library.

CATERING TO STUDENTS' NEEDS

"We try to listen to what people in these communities want and the library tries to provide them with what they want in an attempt to encourage more of them to go to the library," Arunee said.

"I usually come here to read, especially cartoon books," Natnicha Yangdee, a nine-year-old member of the library, said while holding a cartoon book about chickenpox disease in her hands.

Chonticha Rodsesamut, a 28-year-old member of the library who is also a teacher, said she often borrowed fiction, cooking and English communication books as well as fables to read to her pupils at her school.

Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has campaigned to encourage people in Bangkok to read more books as it has been named World Book Capital 2013 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. It is focused on increasing the number of libraries and reading areas, and equipping some libraries with special functions.

Being people who are familiar with the libraries, Arunee and Chonticha urged the BMA to pay more attention to encouraging Bangkokians to read and go to a library.

"It is very difficult to convince people to go to a library as the majority of the people earn low incomes and they see the matter of surviving or earning a living for their family as the most important thing. How would they see the importance of spending time reading in a library or having their children do so? So, to get more people to use a library is more important. BMA should not just provide more reading areas, but also it should think about how to bring more people to the libraries," Arunee said.

Kulwara recommended that parents usually read fables or fairy tales to their children as they liked such stories and they would be able to learn reading from what parents read to them.

As a teacher for many years, Chonticha said children did not like reading, and also she found only some people read newspapers at a library that was not well taken care of in her community, while children used it as if it was a play area where they run around with friends.

"It's not necessary to increase the number of libraries. Even though we have up to 10 libraries in a community, they will be useless if no one makes use of them. Activities that lure more people, especially kids to read and books that people want to read, are more important. I want BMA to convince more people to read and go to a library," Chonticha urged.

Also, Arunee wants BMA to fund many organisations, including her foundation, which have been running libraries enabling them to adjust the environment of the libraries and become more friendly reading venues.

-- The Nation 2013-01-14

[USNret]

Thailand has libraries? I found a small one in Lumpini Park, and university libraries elsewhere. Plus a private one near Silom that charges membership fees. Everyone else I see rents "cartoon books" at book rental shops. Tell me, where are Thai kids supposed to go to visit all these great libraries?

[cooked]

I once spent 9 hours waiting for a bus at Morchit. I didn't see one person with a book or a newspaper. Some played games on their phone. They don't read, I believe. I can't rememer the exact numbers but Vietnamese read on average 30 books a year, Thai three. Most of the books being read are probably being read by students. I have yet to see a bookshelf in a Thai house.

[David006]

Maybe opening the libraries beyond 3:30 pm and weekends may help...our local village library has free internet and printing for homework etc............................but it is NOT open when the kids need it!

[noitom]

Reading is a cultural parenting thing. It starts in the home. When was the last time that you ever saw books in a Thai home? Thais don't read , simple fact. Why in the world would library membership be noteworthy? Thais would never be able to tell anyone where the nearest library was. There is a "private" fee based library on the 5th floor of the Emporium, known as the "design center," but most young Thais that know about it and go there seem to use it to play games on line more than any reading. You would never see more adult parent type Thais in such a place where reading and learning takes place.

[Ricardo]

Sadly I think we should accept that nowadays information is gathered by Googling, rather than by reading books in a quiet environment, I personally will always prefer books but then I'm old-fashioned and (in this case) happy to be so.

The important thing is that the information should be available for-free, or relatively-cheaply, and to as many people as possible. So that the opportunity to improve their knowledge & awareness is available as widely as possible. The days when free public-libraries were established at public expense, or when the workers banded-together, and established Mechanics-Institutes with free-lectures & Reading-Rooms, are gone.

I do regret that the modern opportunities are often thrown away, and the time spent on playing online-games or the likes of Facebook, but that's up-to-them.

Posting on ThasiVisa is of course a totally different thing !

Edited January 14, 2013 by Ricardo

[chiangmaikelly]

Every mall has book stores and there are people in the book stores. Don't you all ever get out?

[spidermike007]

This is a hugely important topic. It may be one of the determining factors, when it comes to Thailand maintiaining it's place in the world. I see them slipping dramatically over the next 30 years. The fact that most Thai people simply refuse to read books, newspapers without a lot of photos, etc, may push them back, and prevent the country from developing a truly literate base. Of course the educators, and the parents are largely to blame. But, how do you convince a child that reading is a good thing for them to do with their time, when they do not have a single friend, or peer who reads? Even smart people rarely pick up a book in this truly enigmatic country.

[spidermike007]

Every mall has book stores and there are people in the book stores. Don't you all ever get out?

But, are they buying and reading any books other than required texts? Have YOU ever stopped to look at how many of the books in the average bookazine are textbooks, and manuals, relative to novels, poetry, classic literature, etc?

[chiangmaikelly]

This is a hugely important topic. It may be one of the determining factors, when it comes to Thailand maintiaining it's place in the world. I see them slipping dramatically over the next 30 years. The fact that most Thai people simply refuse to read books, newspapers without a lot of photos, etc, may push them back, and prevent the country from developing a truly literate base. Of course the educators, and the parents are largely to blame. But, how do you convince a child that reading is a good thing for them to do with their time, when they do not have a single friend, or peer who reads? Even smart people rarely pick up a book in this truly enigmatic country.

Since Thailand has been moving steadily up over the last 40 years and reading has been declining I wonder what would trigger this dramatic slippage? Are other countries reading a lot more of late?

[Keesters]

Pattaya's public library is way out of town in the sports complex. It is not on any public transport route. How do the kids get there to read/borrow books? They don't or very few do.

[spidermike007]

This is a hugely important topic. It may be one of the determining factors, when it comes to Thailand maintiaining it's place in the world. I see them slipping dramatically over the next 30 years. The fact that most Thai people simply refuse to read books, newspapers without a lot of photos, etc, may push them back, and prevent the country from developing a truly literate base. Of course the educators, and the parents are largely to blame. But, how do you convince a child that reading is a good thing for them to do with their time, when they do not have a single friend, or peer who reads? Even smart people rarely pick up a book in this truly enigmatic country.

Since Thailand has been moving steadily up over the last 40 years and reading has been declining I wonder what would trigger this dramatic slippage? Are other countries reading a lot more of late?

By all standards, Thailand has been slipping for the past 4-5 years. So, not sure what surveys, or studies you have been reading, but the trend is reversing itself. When it comes to education, and infrastructure, the neighbors are gaining. Likewise, with economic development.

[Mario2008]

Computer games seems to be what children is interesting these days.

But also the books themselves might be a problem. I don't see many children reading, but once i bought a Thai language version of one of the Harry Potter books. In 1 week time several students had already read the book.

[chiangmaikelly]

This is a hugely important topic. It may be one of the determining factors, when it comes to Thailand maintiaining it's place in the world. I see them slipping dramatically over the next 30 years. The fact that most Thai people simply refuse to read books, newspapers without a lot of photos, etc, may push them back, and prevent the country from developing a truly literate base. Of course the educators, and the parents are largely to blame. But, how do you convince a child that reading is a good thing for them to do with their time, when they do not have a single friend, or peer who reads? Even smart people rarely pick up a book in this truly enigmatic country.

Since Thailand has been moving steadily up over the last 40 years and reading has been declining I wonder what would trigger this dramatic slippage? Are other countries reading a lot more of late?

By all standards, Thailand has been slipping for the past 4-5 years. So, not sure what surveys, or studies you have been reading, but the trend is reversing itself. When it comes to education, and infrastructure, the neighbors are gaining. Likewise, with economic development.

My question was what country is reading more?

[tinfoilhat]

Every mall has book stores and there are people in the book stores. Don't you all ever get out?

i rarely agree with you, but head into your nearest kinokuniya and you will see plenty of people camped out and reading.

In fact there is a thread around here somewhere complaining about thais and bookstores.

Every neighborhood where i grew up in canada had a library within a 5 minute bike ride away,

the greater vancouver library alone has according to wiki:

The Vancouver Public Library is the second largest public library system in Canada, with more than 2.8 million items in its collections, 22 branches, approximately 375,000 cardholders, and nearly nine million item borrowings annually

thailand does not provide those resources for their people.

interesting to note the number of card holders seems relatively low until you realize the 2011 census set Vancouver's population at 603,502

all i know is my 6 year old LOVES reading.

I have read her a story every night since she has been old enough to understand, and will continue to do so until she tells me she is too old.

She has somewhere in the area of 200 books in the house while i have at least 300 kicking around myself, she wont go to the toilet without a book (no idea where she picked up that habit)

reading is a learned behavior, my folks always had books around, and weekly trips to the library were exciting until i could just hop on my bike and go anytime.

when my father died, one of the things we had to do was return his last stack of borrowed books, when i die, someeone is going to have to get rid of mine.

Edited January 14, 2013 by tinfoilhat

[sprq]

"It is very difficult to convince people to go to a library as the majority of the people earn low incomes and they see the matter of surviving or earning a living for their family as the most important thing. How would they see the importance of spending time reading in a library or having their children do so?"

In the west, many decades ago, i.e. at the same level of development as most Thais have today, people with low education who wanted to get ahead and improve themselves went to public libraries after work and educated themselves. The public libraries were very good, though, unlike those in Thailand, which scarcely exist, and are poor when they do exist, so Thais have good excuses for not using them. They would be better off learning via the internet, which they can do at home anytime.

[sprq]

Reading is a cultural parenting thing. It starts in the home. When was the last time that you ever saw books in a Thai home? Thais don't read , simple fact. Why in the world would library membership be noteworthy? Thais would never be able to tell anyone where the nearest library was. There is a "private" fee based library on the 5th floor of the Emporium, known as the "design center," but most young Thais that know about it and go there seem to use it to play games on line more than any reading. You would never see more adult parent type Thais in such a place where reading and learning takes place.

You're referring to the TCDC on Emporium's 6th floor, a miraculous institution in the Thai context, and you're totally wrong about what young Thais do there. The vast majority do serious work there, using the computers and the books, which constitute the best public library in Thailand (albeit with paying membership). In 100 visits, I've never seen anybody playing games on the computers. They are almost all tertiary level students from bourgeois families, however, and are not at all representative of the average young Thai.

[tinfoilhat]

is the tdc exclusively design related in content or do they have a variety of stuff?

Edited January 14, 2013 by tinfoilhat

[Fookhaht]

I've lived in Thailand 10 years. I saw my first public library a couple of months ago. Accessibility is a huge part of the issue.

[harrry]

Thailand does provide public libraries. They also outreach to have a library in many shopping centres so that it is accessible to people. They often combine these library outreaches with a thai coffee shop etc so that it becomes a community space.

I think they do a pretty good job however reading levels are very low here.

[Payboy]

Library in Thailand - a place to store books that we're not reading.

Edited January 14, 2013 by Payboy

[Nisa]

It isn't just Thailand. The US and UK (and probably many other places) have been closing libraries and shortening hours they are open as they see their use drop by both children and mostly adults. In fact the entire printing industry has seen big declines since people started getting their news, books and information online.

Edited January 14, 2013 by Nisa

[chiangmaikelly]

It isn't just Thailand. The US and UK have been closing libraries and shortening hours they are open as they seeing their use drop by both children and mostly adults. In fact the entire printing industry has seen big declines since people started getting their news, books and information online.

Shhh don't tell anyone the UK has lost 200 library branches over the past year. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/10/uk-lost-200-libraries-2012

[chrisrazz]

Have you actually seen the price of books? It would cost more than the minimum daily wage to by a translation of a decent English language novel.

[Nisa]

I once spent 9 hours waiting for a bus at Morchit. I didn't see one person with a book or a newspaper.

But I bet you most had read the bus schedule or were able to communicate enough in order to not wait 9-hours in the station for a bus. (sorry couldn't resist)

Edited January 14, 2013 by Nisa

[tragickingdom]

It is called change. Libraries are replaced by Ipads and ebooks.

[Jawnie]

There is a private book store in Central World (6th or 7th floor). I was surprised when I saw it.

The problem with encouraging reading on the internet is that it is 5 minutes of reading, then 2 hours of Facebook or Thai Visa. Little actual deep or meaningful reading happens using the internet.

There is no substitute or short cut or 'edutainment' methodology that can beat or replace reading, pure simple reading. It is possible to hide the fact that one can not read (one of my best friends graduated from UC Berkeley in the mid-70s while being unable to read - he still doesn't read well), but it greatly diminishes future income (my friend's wife makes the money, he's a house husband) and harms self-esteem, not to mention keeping on uninformed.

Edited January 14, 2013 by Jawnie

[chiangmaikelly]

There is a private book store in Central World (6th or 7th floor). I was surprised when I saw it.

The problem with encouraging reading on the internet is that it is 5 minutes of reading, then 2 hours of Facebook or Thai Visa. Little actual deep or meaningful reading happens using the internet.

There is no substitute or short cut or 'edutainment methodology that can beat or replace reading, pure simple reading. It is possible to hide the fact that one can not read (one of my best friends graduated from UC Berkeley in the mid-70s while being unable to read - he still doesn't read well), but it greatly diminishes future income (my friend's wife makes the money, he's a house husband) and self-esteem.

Every Tesco Lotus mall I have ever been has a book store and every other mall in Thailand. They sell books.

[Jawnie]

Have you actually seen the price of books? It would cost more than the minimum daily wage to by a translation of a decent English language novel.

Perhaps the pricing has something to do with the fact that there is little or no domestic production of books or readable materials. The major bookstores are western or foreign, at least, so they charge the prices asked for in the home countries. It could also be due to the fact that so few Thai read but foreigners do and shop at their stores. If you hang out at the big stores, Thais do read and shop and I see Thais reading on public transportation, just not like you'd see elsewhere, like in the US. There, people put on their Walkman and zone out reading a book. In Thailand, they zone out on their phone.

Edited January 14, 2013 by Jawnie

[rijb]

It is called change. Libraries are replaced by Ipads and ebooks.

This U.S. school cleared out their entire print collection. Seems to be working. Might need a game filter for Thai students.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/09/minneapolis-schools-libra_n_2442171.html?utm_hp_ref=books&ir=Books