Abu Dhabi: The UAE on Tuesday announced a ten-year National Policy for Reading backed by a Dh100 million fund to encourage the habit of reading among a range of age groups.
The multi-faceted policy, launched at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF), was drawn after a comprehensive survey on reading habits of Emiratis and a study of the national strategies of other countries and entities. The policy aims to make reading a part of the UAE’s core values and national identity.
Six UAE ministers gathered at the ADIBF to announce the upcoming changes. “Reading and education are the pillars to creating a stable, tolerant, knowledge-based society with researchers, academics and innovators. By the end of the year, the UAE will have the first law pertaining to reading in the region. This law will identify the roles and responsibilities of partners and affiliated entities,” said Mohammad Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs and the Future, during the launch.
“To set up the 10-year policy, UAE officials studied the national strategies of seven countries and conducted interviews with 47 entities, in addition to carrying out a survey with 12,000 UAE residents,” Al Gergawi added.
Survey conclusions included the findings that 73 per cent of parents do not read regularly, while 50 per cent of students in schools and universities also do not do so as a routine practice.
Individuals read only 1.5 books a year on average and there are 20 books per household in comparison to 203 per home in the UK. Additionally, [the] reading [habit] among students who move from school to higher education is reduced by a third, the survey found.
“A National Fund for Reading with Dh100 million in endowments will go towards supporting reading initiatives and activities,” Al Gergawi said.
The benefits of reading were also enunciated by other officials as they highlighted other aspects of the policy.
For example, an Educational Bag will be given to new parents to inform them on child rearing and to provide them with appropriate reading material for their youngsters.
“Research has proven that six minutes of reading is sufficient to reduce stress by 60 per cent. Additionally, people are four times more likely to listen to their doctors than their educators, so, as a matter of public health, reading is now a requirement,” Abdul Rahman Al Owais, Minister of Health and Prevention, said.
A focus on children is mandatory, Al Owais added, as the early stages of a child’s life are when most cognitive development takes place.
Najla Mohammad Al Awar, Minister of Community Development, drew attention to an important social concern — reading to the elderly. Reading to the elderly, she said, helps reduce the onset of memory loss disorders such as Alzheimers by 30 per cent.
“This disease is especially prevalent in the UAE. Additionally, we will be welcoming volunteers to read to patients in hospital, to the elderly, to children, to those who cannot read and those who do not read,” she said.
“Reading to those with special needs also helps improve their communication skills and so we will be focusing on setting up group sessions to read for the disabled and to help them read,” Al Awar added.
Salient points
UAE law on reading will be announced before the end of the year.
A Dh100 million fund to support reading and its related activities will also be kicked off.
Every year will contain a month of reading. This year, it is October. For 2017, it is March.
An educational bag for new parents will be given to inform them on child rearing while providing their children with appropriate reading material
Volunteering programmes to read for the elderly, the sick, children and the disabled will also be set up.
Public libraries will have branches at malls.
Reading material availability will be mandatory at cafes.
The number of UAE publications aims to go up from 400 to 4,000.
School assessment will focus on reading objectives.
Training for teachers and educators on how to motivate students to read.
Survey results
A survey [on reading habits] conducted with 12,000 UAE residents, of which there were parents, teachers, students and others concluded:
• 73 per cent of parents do not read routinely.
• The number of visits to public libraries represents 7 per cent of the population whereas in Canada it is 500 per cent.
• 50 per cent of students in schools and universities do not read routinely.
• Reading is reduced by a third when students move from schools to higher education.
• Individuals read only 1.5 books a year.
• 78 per cent of adults do not read regularly.
• There are 20 books on average per household in comparison to 203 books per home in the UK.
• Only 4 books are read every year by students in comparison to 40 in South Korea.
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Gulf News is bringing back the joy of reading with #GNBookClub, in active participation with the UAE’s Year of Reading 2016 campaign and #UAEReads initiative. Competitions on social media, raffle draws, reader book reviews, Twitter debates, author conversations and loads of literary giveaways are up for grabs. So, hurry up and register!”
