Abstract:
Reading habits determine the academic achievements of students to a great extent. The
main objective of the study was to examine the reading habits of the students and to
overcome the barriers of reading habits in the school libraries. The study adopted a
descriptive survey design and data was collected using a structured questionnaire
administered among two hundred respondents randomly selected from Gr.10 – Gr.12
students from Vipulanantha College, Vavuniya. The response rate was 93%.
The findings show that the most of the students (73.7%) spend time for reading regularly
for less than one hour per day on average. The 55% of students prefer to read text books
and the 45% of students preferred to read their materials in the school library
environment. The 3.5% of students do not have the interest to read any materials. The
92% of students are interested in reading in their mother language (Tamil). The students
(33%) indicated that they did not show much interest in reading due to the influence of
Social media.
It can be concluded that average students reading time is very short and they mostly
prefer their school library environment. Social media, television and extra-curricular
activities adversely affect the reading habits of the students. The action should be taken
to increase the library opening hours after school and to encourage students to read other
language materials too. Curriculum related additional reading books and internet
facilities also have to be made available in the library. It is suggested to arrange a
conducive environment to create a reading culture at their residence too.
