‘Reading for pleasure becoming passé for some, a new found passion for others’

AMMAN — At his home in Abdoun, 13-year-old Zaid points to numerous games, electronics and sports gear, scattered around the room. Elsewhere in the house there are TVs, a PlayStation and an Xbox. 

On the table there is a book in English, which, he says, is his mother’s favourite. When asked if he has any books Zaid said he had a few that he has never opened as he has “better things” to do than to read.

According to the brochure for We Love Reading, a nonprofit organisation in Jordan, studies have estimated that people in the Middle East read 0.5 pages a year for pleasure, compared with 11 in the West.

A recent study conducted by Northwestern University in Qatar shows that 22 per cent of Jordanians aged between 18 and 22 read regularly in Arabic. 

The average number of readers aged 19 and above in the Kingdom was 14 per cent.

Jordan is the second lowest country for overall readership with Egypt at 7 per cent and Bahrain the highest at 66 per cent.

“Reading is something that starts at home. Children have to be read to at home, in both English and Arabic, so as they grow they have the readability and the interest in books,” said May Abu Ghazaleh, founder of Hakawati, a bookstore for children.

Abu Ghazaleh said when she used to travel with her children, they were able to go into bookstores, providing an environment to enjoy books. 

Yet while individuals have started programmes to make reading accessible and fun, there are not enough places in Jordan where people can take their children to enjoy reading, she said

University Bookshop was the first stationer to open outside downtown Amman, in 1969. Co-owner Lina Qutob said there is more interest in English reading than in Arabic. “The readership may be low in Jordan but we are definitely moving forward,” she said.

Qutob believes that readership has skipped a generation. 

“This generation, unlike mine, is more interested in reading... The Internet is helping [them] find out what books might be of interest for them.”

She noted that some people now ask about a book before its publishing date because of the Internet. English books are more popular than Arabic due to the disparity between spoken and written Arabic dialects. Unless reading begins at a young age, written Arabic seems foreign to many, said Abu Ghazaleh.

But the interest in English is not the only reason for low readership. 

“Reading is a phenomenon for the individual, yet Arab society is a collective society, not an individual one. Therefore we depend on word of mouth for information, rather than reading and forming our own views,” said Sabri Rbeihat, a former culture minister

Former prime minister Adnan Badran, who is the current president of the University of Petra, said the current education system is to blame for the unpopularity of reading.

“Our system, particularly in kindergarten and in early years, spoon-feeds the children. This develops behaviour in children only to read what is requested by the teacher without expanding outside of the curriculum,” Badran noted.

“Building the seeds of reading should come at an early age, so that it becomes a behaviour and a way of life... This is where the Ministry of Education carries a great responsibility in encouraging and expanding reading.”

“What we have to do to overcome the situation is to reform our educational technology and skills to motivate students to look by themselves for knowledge, and to develop themselves as readers to seek knowledge everywhere.

“Teachers must be taught how to motivate classes and motivate students to develop skills and the desire to seek knowledge through self-reading. Teachers must also be trained as facilitators and move from traditional lecturing and teaching in the classroom to interactive learning and blended learning,” Badran added.

Jordanians have overlooked the importance of reading because numerous families find that they are faced with more important social issues than giving their children a book to read, argued Abu Ghazaleh. 

“In terms of how books may benefit someone, the sky is the limit. Reading increases imagination, helps in problem solving and teaches empathy among other things,” she noted.

Isam Alfuqaha, a sociology professor at Philadelphia University, acknowledged that Arabic books are of a lower quality than English ones.“For example, there should be illustrations, figures and tables to demonstrate the content of the books, but this isn’t in the majority of Arabic books,” he said.

“Readability constitutes one of the major reasons for not reading Arabic books, but, in addition, a large number of university students don’t have sufficient time to read books outside of the curriculum,” Alfuqaha added. 

He suggested organising competitions with prizes to encourage students to read. Media outlets should also have a column that presents different types of books, reviews and what students may be interested in, he said.

The Culture Ministry has taken steps in recent years to increase readership in Jordan, through its “Reading For All” programme, according to Rbeihat. 

“To increase readership, we have a collective responsibility; everyone plays a role,” he said.

Every year, the ministry selects books of interest to families around Jordan to reprint and sell them at minimal prices. 

“Reading is something everyone is born to do and love; it is such a human act, but standardised ‘education’ can strip reading of its magic. Reading the wrong things can leave people feeling bored, frustrated and disconnected from the material,” said Munir Atalla, a student at Tufts University in the US.

“It boils down to learning. If people aren’t given exciting, captivating books at a young age, they will have lost one of the greatest gifts we have,” said Atalla.

The situation is beginning to improve. At a public library in downtown Amman, mothers and children take turns reading out loud to each other. Older children grab books scattered on the table, enjoying the library environment and showing a fascination for books that will make them lifelong readers.