Hyderabad: Students prefer smart reading to paperbacks

Hyderabad: Contrary to a rising belief, reading is not a dying habit, aver school teachers. It has just changed its form, they claim. With technology paving the way,  for readers now prefer e-books to paperbacks, schools have also begun to introduce the technology in their libraries.

The tenth year of Amazon Kindle, a popular e-reader, coincided with National Library Week in 2017. School authorities say that their senior students make use of the gadget for their daily course work as well as light reading.

Ms. Seetha Murthy, principal of Silver Oaks, says, “Although our junior class students use the physical library we have, our senior students have Ipads with e-readers installed in them. They use the e-readers for lessons too, with teachers often sending them links to pages related to their course study. Students have also formed book clubs according to their favourite genres and they regularly exchange e-books too.”

She further said that it was impossible to insulate a child from technology these days and therefore it was important to empower them with it and teach them its’ benefits and usage.

Librarians also say that students are used to technology and prefer reading in gadgets that they can operate. Ms Sumati Gupta, a school librarian says, “We cannot say that children do not read these days just because they are glued to their phones. They are actually reading more number of articles than we ever did at their age. Similarly, they just make use of e-books as they are more easily available. All the latest releases can be downloaded and even free trials are available and that makes it interesting for youngsters.”

She added that school libraries too were downloading books, often with the suggestions of children. Like physical books, children also swapped e-books. Of course there are some schools that still believe in the old format of reading and spend a huge amount of money in the buying of books. Mr Narasimha Reddy, principal of Hyderabad Public School, Ramanthapur said, “We spend over '1 lakh annually and have 14,000 books.”

We are open to extending our library online as well because e-learning is the need of the hour. However children should not forgo paperbacks completely."

E-readers much better: Experts 

Although e-reading is often criticised saying that it can harm the eyesight in the long run, ophthalmologists say that the improved new features in most electronic gadgets are much better than paperbacks, which children often read in dim light.

E-readers have the option of brightness being adjusted and also a zoom in and zoom out facility which makes reading easy at any time of the day, say ophthalmologists.

Dr A. Deepa Shilpika, an ophthalmologist, says, “Nowadays, the brightness of gadgets can be adjusted which is a definite bonus. The only thing that should be taken care of is the position maintained by students while reading. Lying down with one’s Kindle and not holding it up to your eye level and so on will lead to eye problems just as a book would.”

Doctors also say that e-reading helps children with disabilities. Dr Manoj Sreedhar, another ophthalmologist, says, “There are a lot of interactive stories which seem to sell really well on e-readers. It is easy for students with learning disabilities to follow books. There are also plenty of audio-books available. Many parents tell me that the double spacing feature of words or the different fonts that can be adjusted is a boon for students with learning disabilities as they can read according to their convenience.”

Ms Vandana Rao, a teacher, says, “For students from lower grades, we monitor and supervise the usage of reading gadgets. Although parents prefer students taking back physical books, we have found that students are more interested in reading online and we often discuss this with parents during our meetings with them.”

School authorities say that maintaining digital libraries is comparatively cheaper. It is a recent trend that they have started but the benefits of it seem to outweigh the costs.

“Most schools are still grappling with the thought of having a digital library unlike universities that are fully equipped with journals and books. It will take some time for the schools to match up with the universities. We encourage children to visit libraries in their locality and read a physical book once in a while so that they get the best of both worlds,” says Ms Rao.