I. HUSSAIN ET AL. 433
text and circumstances at national or international level (91%)
motivating them towards reading a specific book/article/paper
etc., and availability of such books (73%) in the schools’ library
and market which they ever wished for. Similarly, some other
factors appeared to have an impact on reading preferences of
secondary school students—time and their time management
ability (88%), examinations and their preparation (83%) and
workload and number of courses being taught in the school
(80%). Besides of all these elements lack of guidance (64%),
lack of personal interest (80%) and reading taste of study cir-
cles or study groups (80%) appeared to be most important fac-
tors to have an impact on reading and setting reading prefer-
ences of secondary school students.
Results of Qualitative Data Analysis
The participants revealed interesting facts about reading fa-
cilities and their preferences, their problems and needs of guid-
ance in selecting books for reading. During the interview the
participants explained their reading interests and motives.
There were different reasons which usually made secondary
school students read different books of their interests. Majority
of the respondents from all of the sampled schools asserted,
“We read to know. Books give us new knowledge and informa-
tion about cultures and countries, people and places, innova-
tions and inventions, discoveries and geography, science and
technology, and fiction and realities of and about life. We read
for pleasure and fun. We have aesthetic sense and read poetry
and books on humor and comedy, adventure, travel stories
(SAFAR NAMA), love and romantic stories, scientific and gen-
eral knowledge.”
Pakistan is Muslim Country and therefore, all (100%) of the
respondents were Muslims. It is obligatory for all Muslims to
have basic knowledge of and about the fundamentals of Islam.
Reading enhances level of information and knowledge of the
reader(s). Reading in groups/reading circles or clubs and shar-
ing promotes passion for reading competition helping readers
select good books. The respondents were of the voice, “We
share information and exchange books to read in our friends’
reading circles/club. We read books on Islam to learn its basic
and fundamental principles, dos’ & don’ts, life and achieve-
ments of Muslim heroes. It instills us to go ahead and lead to
live a civilized life of a true Muslim citizen.”
After graduating, the secondary school students are expected
to assume the social responsibilities of an adult. Therefore, they
seem to be entering into real life perceiving its facts and reali-
ties—pleasures and pains. They need to develop scientific atti-
tude and critical thinking for living a progressive and successful
life. An obvious majority of the respondents stated, “Reading
books on science and scientific inventions promotes rationality
in our thinking. It leads us towards developing scientific atti-
tude even in our social life. It helps us avoid superstitions and
we try to seek specific cause to every happening in life. It helps
us differentiate between right and wrong.”
They further asserted, “Reading a new book helps us in en-
hancing our vocabulary. We come to know the meaning of new
words, phrases and phrasal verbs with context of their use. It
gives direction to our thinking leading to actions and resulting
in our accepted attitudes and behaviors.”
It is generally said that beauty is an artistic phenomenon
which comes from one’s inside. It is reflected in terms of aes-
thetic and poetic styles. The respondents’ age group is assumed
to be full of hopes and aspirations and they seem to be inter-
ested in reading poetry and lovely reading materials. Secondary
school students showed their aesthetic sense by indicating,
“Books on poetry enhance our aesthetic sense which leads us to
see the world in beautified and optimistic way and we can feel
the beauty of nature around us. It prepares us to feel the pleas-
ures and pains of real life and to express same in heart loving
manner. It helps us to set high hopes for overcoming despera-
tion.”
Naturally human being seeks guidance to live a successful
and productive life and historically has been following someone
as ideal. There are different great leaders, thinkers & philoso-
phers, reformers and scholars whom people idealize and love to
follow. The respondents expressed their love for their ideals
and they preferred books such great personalities. They were of
the view, “Books on heroes in history inspire us not only to set
high aims but also to struggle for higher achievements in life.
We idealize these personalities and learn how to follow them
and spread their message/ideology and/or philosophy to help
people get out of their miseries.”
In Pakistan secondary schools have scarce reading facilities.
Different factors seem to be responsible for such deficiency and
create lot of problems for students. The students articulated a
number of factors which hindered their reading. They voiced,
“We do not have a proper library in school. Our school library
consists of two or three almirahs in a classroom, staff room
and/or science laboratory having a few old torn off books
which are not issued to us. We spend library period in school
without reading even a newspaper. Access to newspaper is
limited to teachers only and in some schools it is rarely avail-
able.”
In schools students have to study different courses/textbooks
according to academic calendar. They have to go for home
tuition and prepare for the annual and/ or final examination to
get high marks. I such circumstances they have less time for
reading other than their textbooks or notes prepared for the
getting through the examination. It effects on their reading and
reading preferences. Most of the respondents explained it as,
“We have to cover the courses and complete home work of
almost all (eight/ten) subjects. It takes too much time to read a
book other than a textbook/course book. Similarly, we have to
go for home tuition and prepare for getting through final ex-
amination thinking scarcely about extra reading—novel, poetry,
history, magazine and/or newspaper.”
General knowledge appears to be necessary for every indi-
vidual of society but secondary school students are expected to
acquire basic information about their country, people & places
and every day science. It can be promoted by arranging class
competitions. But students indicated the situation by expressing,
“A fewer literary competitions are organized in our schools. In
a way we are kept away from books on general knowledge,
science and geography.”
Guidance is necessary for everyone in life but secondary
school students need proper guidance in selecting books to read.
Such guidance is rarely provided in schools which results in
poor reading and readability of students. In almost all of the
sampled schools the respondents recorded their reservations by
saying, “No one guides us what to read and why. Consequently
we read what we have or come across and think better for us.
Teachers emphasize on completion of course/textbooks and
home work; parents expect high scores and always advise to
keep on preparing for the examinations banning on extra read-
ing even a newspaper.”
In short, the respondents appeared to be very keen on reading
and they showed their reading preferences in almost all aca-
