Kalam finds books building blocks of country

Updated on: Friday, February 05, 2010

New Delhi: Emphasising the importance of reading and its effect on youth, former President A P J Abdul Kalam here today said it helps children to view the past, experience the present and dream about the future.

Speaking at the International Conference on Children's Libraries - Building a Book Culture, organised by the Association of Writers and Illustrators for Children (AWIC) with an aim to discuss the potential and scope of libraries in strengthening the book culture, the former president said every school should have libraries as they stimulates the reading habit in children which creates an urge to learn new things.

''Learning gives creativity, creativity leads to thinking, thinking in turn leads to knowledge and knowledge makes us great,'' Dr Kalam said and added that this is the purpose of libraries. The former President said the dreams and aspirations of the children shapes the future of any country.

Though many educationists and thinkers believes that the technological advancement has eroded the book reading culture, Dr Kalam thinks otherwise and advocates the need to provide book content in electronic form also. ''Knowledge content especially for the urban children should be in electronic form. Computer books have provided a new arena for book reading,'' he added.

Advising that everybody should allocate at least an hour everyday to read quality books and parents should develop a library at their homes Dr Kalam asserted that home library would help children gain the knowledge what their parents had gained through those books. Children learn through their environment so it is imperative for the parents and teachers to present an inspiring and ideal behaviour, he advised and added that their questions should be answered with earnest.

He also said that libraries must try to keep themselves updated with the latest books from all around the world so that children get an exposure to different countries, cultures and religions. ''There should be books about national heroes,'' he mentioned.

Kalam finds books building blocks of country

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