Activity by British Council, New Delhi

Children destress with books

By Ruchi Gandhi

New Delhi: According to a recent study, reading is the last thing on the mind of British youngsters when they buy books. The study reveals that books have become the new snobbery in London. But the British Council, New Delhi does not want the youth of the city to follow their footsteps and is trying to avoid the situation.

Keeping this in mind they staged a play that was organised by members of the Teenage Readers Club at the launch of Head Start book collection (self-help books for parents and teachers to deal with children) on Saturday evening.

"It is very important to encourage young ones to read. Our club aims to do just that. Today’s presentation focused on the relationship between the teens and parents but in the future we plan to do plays based classic novels as children find them boring," said Laxmi, who heads the club.

She also emphasised that youngsters read but they don’t want to experiment with different kind of books. Some of the favourites remain J.K. Rowling, Dan Brown, Philip Pullman and Jacklyn Wilson. "We aim to change the perspective of young people towards reading. I plan to do that by organising author readings, poetry, debates, reading out sessions and theatre presentations," said Laxmi.

Currently the club has 17 members with the youngest being a 13-year-old. "Although most of my friends don’t like to read classics, I love them and I read for more than two hours everyday," said Swati, a student of Gargi College.

For Vineet, who studies in Class 9, reading is one of the most important activities of the day and luckily his dad motivates him into reading.

He follows a schedule which gives him ample time to pursue his hobby. "Reading is a very important habit. It helps them to de-stress and hence I encouraged my son to join the club," said Abraham, Vineet’s father.

Talking about the reading habits of the city’s youth Mr Rod Pryde, director British Council, India said, "I am very impressed with the knowledge Indian children possess. There aren’t many youngsters who have an inclination to reading but that is what we want to achieve. We hope to create an environment that builds values."

(Article courtesy - Asian Age)

Quote:

Education is what folks have left after they've forgotten most of what they have learnt in school.