Love of books sparked by curiosity

Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With fewer and fewer students reading literary works, calling them "dull and boring", a scholar of literature blamed the teachers for not making reading interesting.

Nasti M. Reksodipuro, a retired lecturer of the School of Literature at the University of Indonesia, pointed out that teachers should give a brief introduction about a certain book.

"Teachers only assign the students to read a book without giving an indication as to what makes the book interesting to read," she told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview.

Mere compulsory reading, she said, was not the right approach to make youngsters interested in reading literary works.

"The teachers need to let them know a bit about the story, the different cultures and mind-set of the people back then when it was written, how it differs from the age we are living in right now. Then, they'll be interested to read the story."

Indonesian students' reading levels are poorer than other Southeast Asian countries, it was revealed in a survey conducted in 2003 by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Program for International Students Assessment.

The survey revealed that 38 percent of students had serious difficulties in using reading as a tool to advance and extend their knowledge and skills.

Nasti asserted that the core issue was not how to make students interested in reading literary works, but how to make them interested in reading. "It must start as early as elementary school."

"But you have to do something to raise children's interest in reading. You cannot just wait for them to go to a library and read a book. You have to take the initial approach to introduce them to the habit," she added.

She has started to apply the new approach at her own library, Pustaka Kelana, in Jl. Kelapa in Rawamangun, East Jakarta.

With colorful walls and a fun setting, the library looks more like a playgroup than a library.

"It's designed in such a way children will feel comfortable to read here. This way, they'll think of reading books as a fun thing to do and will want to come back for more reading," she said.

She explained that there is also a story-reading session together with children at the library.

"What I usually do before the reading is to briefly discuss things that are related to the story that we're going to read," said Nasti.

For example, she said, before reading a story about Eskimos, she would ask the children if they knew what an Eskimo looked like, where they lived, and how cold it was. They would open the world map together and try to find the place.

Then, after children were anxious to hear the story, she would begin to read it.

"This is the interactive method that children need so that they become curious, and thus will be challenged to find the answer in the book."

If teachers and parents unrelenting pursue the creative approach, children's interest in reading would hopefully increase, Nasti remarked.