Chloe Glover (Reporter)
OVER one third of Spaniards never read books.
The government revealed that 35% admitted to never partaking in the pastime on the eve of a huge school reading drive.
Fernando Benzo, minister of education, culture and sport, now wants schools to dedicate the same time to reading as it does to children playing sport.
A preoccupation with achieving sporting success has been blamed for the problem by Daniel Fernández, president of the Federación de Gremios de Editores de España (FGEE),
He said that sport was “a form of national pride” and that the “educative and social system had not been preoccupied with reading.”
An FGEE study found that those most likely to read are women between 30 and 55 years, who have a university education and live in big cities.
This news does not surprise me at all.
I doubt if 20% of Brits actually read a book – 25% of school leavers in the UK are illiterate and inumerate. Many households in the UK have no reading matter, some may have a car manual and that’s all. I would’nt have a pop at the Spanish, their children are more confident and articulate than those in Britain.