The Hungarian government plans to spend HUF 120 million to finance programs and competitive grants to popularize reading literature. Unveiling the first competitive grant János Halász, state secretary for culture, said the government wishes to encourage reading books because that is also good for economic growth. The young will read more books if they found it a rewarding experience, he added.

A program called “Movie in your Head” invites schoolchildren to show on social network pages, blogs and video-sharing websites what they think of Géza Gárdonyi’s novel Egri csillagok [Eclipse of the Crescent Moon, published by Corvina, Budapest, 1997] and Ferenc Molnár’s Pál utcai fiúk [The Paul Street Boys, Corvina, 2004].

Another component of the program is a project organized by the Hungarian Society for Reading. Volunteers will visit children who live in disadvantaged families to read or tell them stories.

In a reading circle, called “Generation Y”, secondary-school students discuss poems by contemporary poets. The Budapest Museum of Literature named after Sándor Petőfi has invited three-minute commercials to popularize reading ligature.

The young, more than any other age-group, should be encouraged to read. A survey conducted by the Hungarian pollster Ipsos in 2013 shows that a considerable part of Hungarian youths between 15 and 25 rarely ever touches a book. Of the respondents 7 percent looks into a book daily, 16 percent weekly and 14 percent monthly. Thirty-five percent touches a book less than 12 times a year and 28 percent never.

Those with a skilled-worker certificate are the least likely to read literature. Eighty-two percent rarely ever reads a book. Among those with a secondary-school leaving exam the ratio is 52 percent and among the graduates a mere 18 percent.

Although the stats for the Hungarian youths are downbeat, the Hungarian population as a whole has a good showing on an international list. Konyves.blog.hu has recently published the results of a survey called World Culture Score Index of media consumption. It says Hungarians on average read books for 6 hours and 42 minutes per week, which puts them in tenth place internationally.

Improving reading abilities. A new Hungarian invention by Sándor Radosza is meant to improve, among other things, the ability to read. The so-called “Radosza’s Rings” helps children aged five to nine to write, read and count.

The Radosza’s Rings are a three-dimensional educational tool consisting of two interlinked rings on which children can set out letters and pictures.

Népszabadság has reported that, although in Hungary the tool is little known yet, it is widely used in Szekler Land in Romania. It is being tested in Switzerland and will soon be introduced in the market in the United States. Firms in Australia and New Zealand would be ready to co-produce the rings.

Source: Magyar Nemzet

Translated by Budapest Telegraph