Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Monday said the government has taken a plan to build a reading habit among children, keep them away from excessive mobile phone use and reduce their dependence on digital devices.

“We want to develop the practice of reading books. We want to bring children out of mobile phones and into playgrounds and books. This is our plan,” he said while visiting the historic Jashore Institute Public Library in the afternoon.

The Prime Minister was speaking to citizens present at the library.

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“How successful we will be is a different matter. But we want to start the work. When we see people like you, we feel encouraged. Personally, I feel inspired that there are still people who love reading books. I believe we will succeed in this work,” he said.

Tarique Rahman said the government will seek cooperation from citizens to implement the initiative.

“We expect your support. The government starts this work, and with organisations like the Bishwo Shahitto Kendro, we want to work together. We will need support from people like you across the country to expand reading habits quickly,” he added.

The Prime Minister said his aim is to reduce children’s dependence on mobile phones and encourage reading habits.

“I had this wish, as I said, to bring children away from mobile phones and develop reading habits. You may have seen that I sat with Professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed. His organisation Bishwo Shahitto Kendro is working on book reading,” he said.

Tarique Rahman added that the government plans to work with the organisation to promote reading.

“We are thinking of selecting two primary schools in each upazila where we will provide books for children. These will not be political books. There are many educational books outside politics that will help children learn about the world, religion, and life,” he said.

The Prime Minister also said reading will be linked with education assessment.

“We will gradually build reading habits by giving books. The content they read will also be included in examinations, meaning questions will come from those books, and they will be assessed based on them,” he added.

He also spoke with officials of the Jashore Institute Public Library.

Earlier, after inaugurating the 500-bed Jashore Medical College Hospital building, the Prime Minister visited the public library and toured the historic facility.

The Jashore Public Library was established in 1851 and is one of the oldest libraries in Bangladesh as well as one of the oldest in South Asia. It was established during the early phase of the public library movement in the Indian subcontinent.

According to Wikipedia, Jashore Town Hall was built in 1904 and Arya Theatre in 1919. In 1927, Rai Bahadur Jatindranath Majumder combined the Arya Theatre, Town Club and the Public Library to form a unified cultural and community centre in Jashore. This later became Jashore Institute, which was renamed Jashore Institute Public Library by the government.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain, Water Resources Minister Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anee, State Minister Forhad Hossain Azad, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Aninda Islam Amit, and Prime Minister’s Press Secretary Abu Abdullah M Saleh (Saleh Shibly) and Additional Press Secretary Atikur Rahman Rumon, among others, were present.