Book publishing specialist presents the German experience
The Book Platform project of Next Page Foundation established about 5 years ago in Bulgaria is implemented in Armenian, Georgia and Ukraine, and is focused on use and development of advanced approaches of management in the sector of books and reading under the European Eastern Partnership. Under this project, recently, President of “Antares” Media Holding, Armen Martirosyan (in the photo), traveled to Germany, as he said, to find out what the reason is that the reading in this country is at a high level, aiming to apply it in Armenia. As informed by our interlocutor, once, to increase the level of reading in Germany each one invested euro returns 40 euros to the state budget. Indeed, when a citizen is educated, he undertakes and initiates activities, resulting in job openings and developing the economy and science. In the case of ignorance, he remains a drone for the society. The number of programs aimed at this goal is over 100, moreover, the age of beneficiaries begins from 6 months. “To include every child in the program, the experts in line with the Association of Pediatrics conduct events, for instances, when vaccinating the child for the first time, the pediatrician represents the parent how reading is important for the child’s intellectual and spiritual development. The pediatrician presents the parent a gist, a package with 2 booklet and explanatory material on what to do to generate visual and auditory interest in the child towards the book,” said Mr. Martirosyan. He mentioned that there is also a program for “difficult” children, who are frequently absent or unable to attend school, are constantly in the center of attention by the law enforcement, etc. “These children are engaged in football classes. They play football for an hour, and then spend an hour on reading to listening to music, etc. In fact, the winner of this year’s football World Cup Germany team, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, was once a “difficult” child, and as a result of the methods applied in the sector of book and reading, he became a bookworm. And, today, the football player is one of the patrons of literature in the world of books,” said A. Martirosyan. The interlocutor of “Aravot” also said that the program focused on increasing the reading level is operating in the German schools since 1959, and reading contests are held between 6th grade schoolchildren. Recall that “Antares” had localized this experience in Armenia and it has been two years since such contests are conducted along with the Ministries of Culture, Science and Education, and dasaran.am website. To the question of whether he thinks that such a program should be encouraged or held under the state patronage, Mr. Martirosyan responded, “Definitely, these programs are funded in Germany from the state budget, because, I repeat, 1 invested euro return 40 euro to the state budget. Any economist or businessman will prove the efficiency of this kind of investment.”
Samvel DANIELYAN
