Wednesday 18 September 2013

'ICTs a boost to reading culture'

THE advancement of Information Communications Technology (ICTs) should make it easier for children to improve their reading culture, says Zambia's Literacy ambassador Beatrice Nkanza.

However, Ms Nkanza has cautioned parents and guardians to be alert on what sites their children visit as some are harmful to their well-being.

Speaking in an interview with Femail, Ms Nkanza said many young people now have access to the internet and should utilise it to enhance their reading culture because it offers a variety of topics which young people can find beneficial.

This year's literacy week runs under the theme 'Literacies for the 21st century

"Reading during this era of technology should be easier for our children unlike the way it was during our days," she said.

Ms Nkanza urged parents and guardians to be on the look-out of what their children are reading on the internet as some of them are fond of viewing sites which do not add value to their lives.

"Parents should be cautious of what their children are reading on the internet as some spend so much of their time viewing prohibited sites, while others just spend time on Facebook," she said.

She said parents should take time to buy books and read for their children in order to stimulate interest in reading. Parents should not restrict their children to reading books in English but also take time to read those in local languages.

"Literature on local languages also plays an important role in enhancing the reading skills of young people," she said.

Room to Read country director Samantha Chuula said ICTs play a vital role in today's reading culture. 

Ms Chuula said the generation of young people today is in a very rich print world where there is an overload of information to sample from.

She also said young people have a lot of opportunities to learn and internet affords many chances to do so.

"Internet can also enable one learn at their own convenient time, especially in cases of long distance learning," she said.

However, she bemoaned children's inability to utilise the opportunity of having technological facilities.

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