Somebody is making a lot of sense this past weekend and its from the halls of Congress.

Batangas Rep. Ralph G. Recto proposes that government should resume building school libraries to improve reading comprehension among students which we can all agree on.

There has been a moratorium on building new libraries and it has been in effect for some time. Apparently some people have a dislike for books and reading and would like to impose it on others.

Congressman Recto would like to tell them succinctly “a school without a library is like a swimming pool without water.” And we couldn’t agree more.

Statistics and data would show that the Philippines ranked last among 79 countries in reading comprehension as cited by Mr. Recto which was a study conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s program for international student assessment. This is further exacerbated by the fact that fewer than 15% of school children could read simple texts according to a report by the United Nations Children’s Fund.

“If it’s true that 900,000 enrollees went from private to public schools, that would call for the construction of 22,500 rooms,” Mr. Recto said, adding that a remedial measure can be made to increase the Department of Education’s (DepEd) budget for infrastructure. 

P5.91 billion is earmarked to the Department of Education next year for the construction of new classrooms.

“This should jolt all of us into intensifying our efforts to make pupils read and develop the fondness for books that do not only inform, but also prepare young minds to acquire deeper knowledge in science,” he said. 

The congressman said school libraries should have free wi-fi so that students can tap into the “online universe of reading materials waiting to be explored by curious minds.” 

The future is in the hands of these kids who should mine knowledge through the availability of books.

Credits for image from Kazuend from Unsplash