Sharjah: Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture, Youth, and Community Development, on Friday launched the Culture and Creativity of Reading initiative at the 33rd Sharjah International Book Fair.
Shaikh Nahyan said the initiative, which was launched by the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Community Development, aims to strengthen the reading of books in the current digital world.
“Reading is an essential means of education; I want people of all ages in the UAE to take part in this initiative that will continue throughout the year. Those wishing to take part can visit the ministry’s page.”
Shaikh Nahyan said he hopes the initiative will help encourage people in the UAE to remember to incorporate reading in this increasingly digital world. He also called on publisher and book-sellers to support the initiative.
Speaking about the initiative, Shaikha Budour Bint Sultan Al Qasimi, chairperson of the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq) and Mohammad Ahmad Al Murr, Speaker of the FNC shared their thoughts on the initiative.
Al Murr said according to research it was found that people don’t read for three reasons: they did not find encouragement or inspiration from their parents, who would were not seen reading books by their children. They did not find inspiration to do so from a school or teacher and went on to work and did not find inspiration or time to read from work as well.
For this reason Al Murr believes that this initiative will help fill this gap and people will finally find the encouragement to read that they have missed out throughout their life.
“Statistics found that all cultures that read are civilised and forward thinking while those that don’t are backward. We need more support from everyone, until now we don’t have classes in our public schools that are allocated specifically to reading. The media’s support is also needed we don’t see them promoting reading or shedding light on the latest books,” he said.
Shaikha Budour also agreed that more encouragement and support is needed especially amoung youth. “A study found that the Arab world reads on average six minutes per year. To change this we need to start from the beginning, with children. Moms and dads should support and encourage their children to read.”
Shaikha Budour said encouraging people is not enough, adding that there should also be encouragement for publishers and authors to spread the culture of reading.
