U.K. tabloid The Sun has published an article that claims the advent of videogames is responsible for a decline in the country’s primary school literacy levels.
A 41-country study found that U.K. primary school students had slipped from third to 15th in the rankings over a span of five years, which put them behind students from nations such as Russia, Latvia and Bulgaria. The study indicated that U.K. school students spend far less time reading than children in other countries, but far more time playing videogames: A third of 10-year-olds in the study spent three hours or more each day on game consoles after school.
U.K. Secretary of Schools Ed Balls pledged a $10 million boost to libraries for programs to give books away to local nurseries, and urged parents to encourage more reading at home. “Today’s youngsters have more choice in than 2001 about how they spend their time,” he said. “Most of them have their own TVs and mobiles, and 37 percent are playing computer games for three hours a day. We all need to help our children of all ages to see that reading can bring fun to their lives.”
