Mom Life

Every time I hear anyone mention the reading crisis in our public schools, it always puzzles me why DepEd chooses to complicate things with endless, ever-changing interventions. The solution is simple: school libraries.

You can say I’m saying this because I am a librarian by profession. Well, that’s true. I’m a de facto library propagandist. But hear me out.

As a librarian who has been with DepEd for sixteen years, you can NEVER convince me that kids today do not like to read.

One problem is most of them haven’t been exposed to reading materials as little children. Obviously, buying books is out of the question if you’re a single-income household earning below minimum wage. (Some of our learners even do not have household income at all.) I remember when I was a kid – and that was almost forty years ago – when I would find comics about different government programs (vaccination, family planning, fertilizers, high-yield crops) lying around my grandmother’s house in Sablayan. Free fun reading materials! I don’t see that anymore. But school libraries, when funded and supported, will give our children that – even more than the twenty-five books they need.

Another problem is the kids’ exposure to reading is mostly confined in the classroom setting. I am a firm believer that people must first develop a level of comfort with books and reading materials before they are subjected to reading in front of other kids, their teachers, and officials. That comes from a habit developed from exposure to books without fear of being graded and judged.

In school libraries, kids are allowed access to books without the expectation that they will read all of it, if at all. In libraries, children are allowed not to like a story. They are not required to memorize characters, places, and events and extract morals from the stories they read. It is enough for us that they enjoy the act of opening books and being around books. We are okay with them opening and rejecting different books – because we believe that is part of their journey of discovery. We know that soon, they will find a word, a story, or an illustration that will make them fall in love with reading.

And the last – although I know there are more factors – is the kids’ exposure to adult role models.

I always remember a middle grade novel from our first year English class in high school – The Witch of Blackbird Pond (by Elizabeth George Speare). I love that book, and the part which resonated with me the most, which probably influenced my decision to be a children’s librarian a wee bit, was when Kit, the protagonist accused of being a witch, successfully made Prudence, a child who came from an illiterate family, read, not only by teaching her, but by, from the very beginning of their relationship, inspiring the child by her love for books.

I believe – and I know – that when children encounter adults who love books, who love to read, that is going to influence them to love books and reading as well. And that role model is the ma’am or sir who is always in the library, who always has a book recommendation, who is happy to see them coming through the doors.

It all trickles down. When a child loves books, the other kids will come, too, first, out of curiosity, until they also discover the fun in reading.

Today, on Instagram, I found this:

Credits: @thebookwrangler on IG

So, why is the support for public school libraries absent in the EDCOM II report? Why is EDCOM II not recommending the strengthening of our Library Hubs and Book Nooks, or even finally the passing of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of DECS Order No. 6, s. 1998 for our school libraries to have funds? Instead, the committee is soliciting donations for its own book drive! Why are DepEd librarians cast aside in helping solve the reading crisis in public schools? In fact, why is there no clamor for hiring more librarians – or even permanent, full-time administrative assistants for the libraries – who will keep our school libraries open from seven to five? I don’t understand.

Unless the people in the government also do not read books. If so, I rest my case.