The imminent closure of Universal Bookstore confirms the decline in reading

Dear Editor,

The last advertisement from Universal Bookstore that it is closing down is a tragic indicator of the decline in reading in the Guyanese public.

According to anecdotal evidence, there were bookshops, small and big ones all over the country in Guyana’s heyday. There were bookstalls in markets that thrived and many persons also walked and sold books. This is not good news if we want to become a fully participatory democracy, and to function in a global economy, which will require that we are literate and that we can read and also articulate our own views.

The news that the Ministry of Education has committed some funds to a nationwide literacy programme in 2008 is welcome. It is not clear though, how much of that money will be going towards adult remedial literacy. At the same time, many of us who can read and write probably find it easier to succumb to the lure of the $200 DVDs rather than read for leisure. A youth leader recently told of the dilemma of trying to encourage the teenage members of his youth group to read, even when he himself does not read as much as when he was in school because of time. Time is always precious. For those who need a little peer pressure to get on with activities which should be done (like exercising), a “book club” is a good way to find time to read within a deadline and to have the additional benefit of being able to discuss the book (or article, or whatever you read). Book club might sound fancy, but it is just a group of people who agree to read a book within a particular time and discuss it. Sometimes you find yourself reading unwillingly or reading as though for an exam because you committed to finishing the book in a particular time. This is especially good for people who would be lazy otherwise to read.

Yours faithfully,

Vidyaratha Kissoon