KOTA KINABALU: Malaysians are becoming more aware of the importance of reading, according to State Education Director Datuk Jame Alip.
Malaysians read an average of eight books per annum in 2010 while in 1996, the average number of books read by Malaysians were two books, said Jame who was represented by Deputy Education Director, Hajah Maimunah Suhaibul during the 2014 6th State-level Nilam Carnival.
“Although the average is lower than the reading average of developed nations such as Japan and the USA, the average indicates that Malaysians are becoming more aware of the importance of reading,” he said.
He also said reading materials such as books, encyclopaedias, journals, newspapers and various conventional reading materials as well as electronic media would expand their horizons to vast knowledge that surpasses what is contained within school books and textbooks.
He added that with the digital era, the reading materials were no longer confined to books, newspapers, magazines, bulletins, journals and novels.
“With the use of ipads and smart phones, we can garner various information speedily from sources such as e-books, articles and other reading materials,” he said.
He also said that by reading, we get various information from various resources and acquire different perspectives.
“Extensive reading makes us less gullible and become victims of information manipulation,” he said.
Meanwhile, the winners the Nilam Award this year were Joeyanatasa Jona (SK Kolombong Kota Kinabalu) for the Primary School Bahasa Malaysia category, Mohd Haiqal Abdul Hamid (SMK Kudat) under the Bahasa Malaysia Secondary School category, Gobinath Nair Ravi (SK St Benedict Ranau) under the English category for Primary School and Suren Vynn Chander (SM St Joseph Papar) under the English for Secondary School category.
Gobinath’s father, Ravi Balakrishnan, when interviewed said that his son has been reading since he was small.
“I used to read the books with him and I tell him that books were interesting and little by little he did everything on his own. Now I send him to the library,” he said.
He added that one need not have to spend so much on books since there were many books available to be borrowed at the State library.
“You don’t have to buy.”
“There are laptops, ipads, I have streamyx and broadband. He also has his library card.”
He said that reading has changed his son.
“Sometimes he comes up with ideas that surprise me. And you cannot simply scold him for nothing. You have to explain to him,” he said.
Mohd Haiqal, 17, when interviewed said he had read 352 books and that these comprised books on general knowledge, story books, science books and encyclopaedias.
In preparation for the national level competition, Mohd Haiqal said that he would read more.
“My ambition is to become a doctor.”