Thai children read more than previously



BANGKOK: -- The National Statistical Office (TNSO) has revealed that Thais are now spending more time reading, and children have been found to be the group that read the most.

The findings were based on the result of a survey jointly carried out by TK Park and the TNSO during June and July of 2013 involving 55,920 sample families.

The survey found that on average, Thais aged six years old and above spend 37 minutes reading each day.

This was a 10% increase from the 2011 figure. Reading all kinds of books and on electronic median contributed to the 37 minutes average.

The survey found that Bangkok residents read the most, followed by those in the Central Region, the Southern Region, the Northern Region and the Northeastern Region.

It also found that cash discounts, motivation from family and educational institutes and the availability of public libraries contributed to making people read more.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/thai-children-read-previously/


-- Thai PBS 2014-04-23

It's not because it takes them longer to read a word, that it means they read longer

37 minutes a day.

At that rate War and Peace would take a lifetime.

I should stop any reading progress immediately, how about giving them all a tablet to take their mind off the idea......

I should stop any reading progress immediately, how about giving them all a tablet to take their mind off the idea......

I bought my son a Tablet to encourage him to read, as thousands of books can be downloaded for free, but I don't know of any paperback books that are available for free.

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I should stop any reading progress immediately, how about giving them all a tablet to take their mind off the idea......

I was wondering what are they reading , F/book

Facebook takes me 37 seconds before I need something more stimulating. Must be facebook and twitter combined?! Or must they read the instructions of the K pop dance game before moving up a level?

Good thing they didn't mention time spent on great novels or great literary writings, the news or research!

Edited April 23, 201412 yr by gemini81

Does this mean the sales of Kar toooon books have gone up ?

Manga and cartoon books,they could read a million and

still not expand their minds,would be a stretch to call it reading.

regards Worgeordie

Unfortunately, the article doesn't say what sort of material they read.

I do not consider perusing friends' wall posts on FB as "reading".

I also do not count deciphering speech bubbles in cartoons as "reading".

Studying the manuals of new electronic gadgets or the rules of online games are also not "reading".

And should flipping through fashion, lifestyle and celebrity gossip magazines be considered "reading"?

The study mentions "Thais aged six years old and above" and apparently found that demographic group to be the one "that reads the most". The story even illustrates that with a photo of a young girl obviously trying to decipher - with the help of an adult - a few short sentences in a picture book.

That age bracket naturally spends "more time reading" because those kids are still LEARNING how to string letters together to form words and sentences. The question is how much time they'll spend with real reading material once they get older. But the study implies that it will be less than 37 minutes per day on average.

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Does this mean the sales of Kar toooon books have gone up ?

Manga and cartoon books,they could read a million and

still not expand their minds,would be a stretch to call it reading.

regards Worgeordie

I am teacher and I often see what my students are reading.
I have seen and confiscated "novels " about lesbians and other matured content from my Matthayom 1 students.
Yes, they are reading but they are reading materials that are inappropriate for their age.

I see that they included reading from electronic means which is very different from book reading.

Since the Mrs sisters kids who come here a lot have got tablets (not Govt) they have been reading a lot less books.

Before when they came here they would grab a book from the collection we have and read.

Now it is all play games on their tablets.

They are all very bright kids and have learnt very quickly how to use the internet, but games are still the top attraction.

37 minutes a day.

At that rate War and Peace would take a lifetime.

Imagine getting to the end of War and Peace ( not a very likely scenario I admit) and then finding some b****** has torn the last page out.

Good to hear, but this doesn't save them from Thai daily aggressive and under zero IQ soap idiocies with talentless Chinese "actors".

Facebook takes me 37 seconds before I need something more stimulating. Must be facebook and twitter combined?! Or must they read the instructions of the K pop dance game before moving up a level?

Good thing they didn't mention time spent on great novels or great literary writings, the news or research!

World History

The actual report and stats can be found here: http://web.nso.go.th/en/survey/education/edu_2011.htm

When you remove the social media, text books at school and menu reading stats, that must leave a whole 1 minute per day reading books off their own bat, and I bet the majority are reading comic books. Don't mean to be cynical, but I always have been...

Hidden in one of the last tables of data (table 31) is the interesting question about why people don't read.

Just looking at kids aged 6 to 14 year:

50% are watching TV

33% are not interested or dislike reading

20% are illiterate (!!!!?)

The answers are obviously not mutually exclusive - people could pick 1-3 categories.

But how can almost 20% of students claim to be illiterate? I guess it is easier than claiming to be lazy.

However, from Table 13, less than 92% of students aged 6-14 years say they read something. Because of those last questions, I assume this means reading both in and out of school. So over 8% of schoolkids claim to do no reading whatsoever!

Make your own conclusions.

[Ed. sorry, this analysis is from the link to the 2011 census, not the recent survey.]

Edited April 23, 201412 yr by focus27

Thirty-seven minutes! A day!

One of my wife's family was horrified to find a porno magazine in the school bag of her 11 year old son last week. He got a bashing but his excuse was ' there are a lot of them at school and everyone is reading them...including the teachers ' !

37 minutes a day isn't all bad. And that's an average, i.e., some more, maybe even much more, and some less, and much less. But, really, how many of us read 37 minutes a day? I know I don't, and I even try to find time for enjoyable reading, but often cannot (or just plain do not) work it into my day.

Suspecting that many homes do not even have books or adult role models who read regularly, I'd say if a kid was reading a half hour or so each day, that would be pretty good considering all the other things that most are actually doing in their spare time.

I can not remember that i saw in 25 years a Thai kid reading a book in Thailand except comic.

The Asia Book shop in the new Central Plaza in Surat Thani was shut down after some month because nearly no Thai bought any book there.

This told me the manager himself.

Edited April 23, 201412 yr by Mentors

the cartoon books have better pictures now?

I can not remember that i saw in 25 years a Thai kid reading a book in Thailand except comic.

The Asia Book shop in the new Central Plaza in Surat Thani was shut down after some month because nearly no Thai bought any book there.

This told me the manager himself.

Four years in my wife's village and until recently I have NEVER seen anyone read anything, with the exception of my wife. Two weeks ago however I saw one BIB reading the paper. I often see individuals of all ages dozing in hammocks though.

37 minutes a day.

At that rate War and Peace would take a lifetime.

Imagine getting to the end of War and Peace ( not a very likely scenario I admit) and then finding some b****** has torn the last page out.

The butler did it.

I should stop any reading progress immediately, how about giving them all a tablet to take their mind off the idea......

I bought my son a Tablet to encourage him to read, as thousands of books can be downloaded for free, but I don't know of any paperback books that are available for free.

Books are available to borrow from your local library for free. And a far better selection IMO than the free ones available on the Internet. Going to the library was a not-to-be-missed weekly trip for me and my son. He loved browsing and talking to the other kids about what books they had read recently as well as asking the librarian for advice.

News flash ... they are not reading, they are looking at the pics.

In 6 years living here, I have only seen 4 kids ever open a book and 3 were comic books.

Does this mean the sales of Kar toooon books have gone up ?

I've had occasion to visit the Chiangmai University campus several times lately and was amazed at the large number of students lounging outside, eagerly reading.

'Reading?' I thought, how studious albeit unusual; but, then again this is after all, not just any university but the Northern hallowed walls of Thai ivy league.

I managed to walk behind numerous student readers to glance at what they were reading - Plato, Socrates, Advanced English Grammar or Physics perhaps? - no, nothing of the sort.

You've guessed it: Kar toooon books; and not any ordinary Kar toooon books; but massively thick, Japanese, sexually-explicit paperbacks with few actual words to mess up the action.

Thirty seven minutes. A little over half-an-hour; better than nothing, I suppose. Now, if they can just get past the picture book and comic stage.

This is dangerous for the establishment. They should ban books and give the kids tabs to read from, that would guarantee disrupting corrupting information from getting through.