It was established to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies. Statistics show that over 90% of Botswana’s population is literate.
The ability to read should not be misconstrued as a culture of reading. Botswana actually has a terribly poor culture of reading. People rarely read. Holt (1998) has remarked that a situation in which a large number of people rarely read, either because they lack the skill or simply because they do not care enough to take time to concentrate will pose serious problems in the future. This is precisely because reading is essential to full participation in modern society. For one to participate meaningfully in democracy, reading is essential. For one to participate in business and to communicate clearly, they must read without fear. Voracious reading emancipates and strengthens an individual. It adds quality to life, provides access to culture and cultural heritage, empowers and emancipates citizen as well as bringing people together. In the words of Sisulu (2004), reading is one of the fundamental building blocks of learning; to be fair, it is a fundamental necessity to participating in the rigorous life of the 21st Century.
The importance of reading is fairly well-known. Successful academic life cannot be without considerable amounts of reading. All academic pursuits are based on wide reading. Right from pre-primary level until university and post university study, learning depends on reading. To read improves the quality of a people; it opens doors of cultural exchange and national heritage. It is through reading that we recognize that we are one people; that amongst the Kalanga, there are those of Sotho roots and those with Ndebele linkages; that amongst the Bangwaketse are the Bakgatla, Bangwato, Bahurutshe, Batshweneng, Bangologa and many others. Reading opens your mind delivers you from narrow tribal interests and exposes you to the complexity of modern society. It shows you that there is no pure tribe; that we are forever inextricably bound together as a people; that our cultures may be unique, but that they all derive from one source. Reading can therefore be a vehicle that links persons from continent to continent, from one culture to another, from different religions and faiths as well as from different interests.
Reading opens a new world to the reader; sometimes it is an imaginary world, while sometimes it is a world physically removed from one’s vicinity. When one reads, they enter into a world of which the non-reader is deprived. Therefore in the sense of the romantic poets of old, such as William Wordsworth and Taylor Coleridge, reading is a liberating tool that takes one into new worlds.
Reading accords a reader, time to explore the world of books in quietude. Reading is rarely done in disco halls and the noisy and smoke filled club houses. It normally happens in silent rooms according the reader valuable time of reflection and introspection. The material being read may be mentally disturbing to the reader, perhaps as it should, but it disturbs a calm and searching mind that is receptive to the literary world. That is why religious people find a time of consulting the whole book most rewarding since it is done so in a silent and focused moment.
The culture of reading safe-guards a reader from useless rumour mongering and enables a reader to read and/or consult the original sources. Reading therefore exposes the truth – whatever it may be seen to be at a particular time. That is why it is somewhat disheartening to see parliamentarians who haven’t read attempting to make a contribution in the house and looking incredibly uninformed. The honourable MP must be encouraged to read so that when she approaches national matters she does so with facts and not hearsays which take parliamentary debates nowhere.
Reading is important since it aids a reader to better their self expression. Good readers usually make excellent writers. This is important for students, academics, PRO personnel, religious leaders, business leaders and many others. If one wishes to express themselves clearly and forcedly, they must cultivate the habit of reading. This is in part because reading exposes one to new words, new phraseology and idiomatic expressions. It therefore betters individual linguistic dexterity.
Reading is a discipline exercise. It trains one to stay focused on one matter and to see it to completion. This trains the brain to stay focused on one issue instead of touching on a number of matters at the same time. Reading exercises the brain just like physical exercise strengthens the brain. It has been found out that old people who read, religiously continue to be mentally alert. We must therefore continue to encourage extensive reading amongst our people. Parents who read usually have children who read. Parents who bury their faces in their phones and televisions must not criticize their children for being reluctant readers. Happy International Literacy Day!
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