We cannot let reading books go out of fashion. We live in an era where the digital age has caused things to move at a breakneck pace. This has had a negative impact on many people’s attention spans, including early learning in children.
As humans, we have progressed to the point where a child understands what a phone is before their first birthday. There are many reasons why many people are not reading anymore.
While technology has advanced to offer us an easier and faster way of doing things, perhaps we need to think of a way to complement what technology has to offer while still keeping the traditional methods of learning.
This can be achieved by developing modules that embrace the digital age while also providing the foundational literacy skills necessary for developing critical thinking and abilities to solve the challenges of the new world.
We must also consider the socioeconomic disparities between children and different-income countries. Many low-income families may not have access to the technology required to effectively implement online learning.
According to the Education Policy Institute, closing the income gap between low and high-income students could take up to 50 years. The question then becomes how we can bridge the gap until we achieve digital for all.
One approach we could take in a more practical, fast-paced world is to embrace out-of-class learning to provide children with a foundation, and then in later years, embrace leadership development to show them how to address various problems in life.
One way to promote book reading is by establishing libraries that provide books for children. There is a link between reading books and national development.
While incorporating technology in learning is a great accomplishment in and of itself, there is some great concern about the information that is lost in translation or the visual and personal cues that are lost when children learn online.
The level of connoisseurship in everything is important for creating a society that is intelligent and skilled in basic human needs, and the digital world is removing the patience and time investment required to develop the skills and craftsmanship of engineers, doctors, teachers, lawyers, pilots, and many other conventional professions.
This raises the prospect of a future human capital crisis. To avoid losing the essence of human knowledge, we must be able to transfer fundamental literacy, numeracy and practical skills, which serve as the foundations for a life of learning.
We must urgently educate the next generation on how the world works.
Children require a strong foundation; as a society, we must work together to create an environment in which we mentor them in a variety of settings, including classrooms, homes, places of worship and playgrounds, and we must personalise the learning so that each child benefits from what is important to them.
We must be deliberate about learning. We cannot rely solely on technology or a single teacher. BY DAILY NATION