Thais spend 94 minutes a day reading

Thais spend 94 minutes a day reading, a research project by the Thailand Knowledge Park (TK Park) and Chulalongkorn University (CU) Faculty of Education has discovered.

The project comprised a survey covering 5,865 people in 13 provinces, a focus group of 156 people as well as 191 people who are either passionate about reading or hate it.
â??The average figure is satisfactory, but if we look closely, things are different,â? CU lecturer Assoc Prof Dr Wannee Kaemkate said in her capacity as leader of the project.
She said some respondents spent up to 18 hours a day reading, while some did not read a single sentence.
â??Some children say they donâ??t bother reading because they are too lazy,â? Wannee said. â??Civil servants read the most.â?
According to her, some respondents spent more than Bt9,000 a month on books, while others did not spend a single baht on reading material.
â??The findings are very useful because they allow parties concerned to develop better strategies to promote reading,â? Wannee said.
She explained that research showed that many children were not interested in reading because they found books dull. â??If we can make books fun and interesting, maybe they will find reading appealing,â? Wannee pointed out.
Dr Suthep Boonsorn, a researcher involved in the project, suggested that the government develop libraries in rural areas, because the available books and regulations were not conducive to developing a reading habit.
â??Books there are old. Children are also repeatedly told that they will have to pay fines if the books are damaged, so many of them choose to stay away from libraries,â? he said.