Batang Regency Intensifies One Week One Book Initiative to Boost Children's Reading Interest

The Batang Regency Government in Central Java is intensifying the One Week One Book movement to support reading interest from an early age and minimise children playing with gadgets instead of loving books. Acting Head of the Batang Regency Library and Archives Service, Puji Setyowati, in Batang on Friday, said this situation presents a major challenge for literacy advocates in the field so that children prefer reading books. “If we look at the current phenomenon, many parents allow their children to play with gadgets, so children are lazy to read books. This is the task of literacy advocates to invite the community to love and read books,” she said. “Yes, from an early age, we see that children need parental guidance to love and read books,” she said. She hopes that with harmonious collaboration between home and school, parents can set aside time to read books to their children, which will later be reviewed again by teachers at school. To succeed in the programme, they are providing technical guidance to equip literacy advocates with cinematography skills to persuade residents to love books again. “The current generation is more inclined towards content on social media. With this technical guidance, it is hoped that literacy advocates can understand how to produce good videos to invite viewers to enjoy reading,” she said.