Columns The key to finding a lock is the right kind of content

Helsingin Sanomat New Year’s Eve in the author’s speech Silvia Hosseini highlighted the declining literacy of schoolchildren. Studies show that the gap between students who read well and those who read poorly is growing all the time.

However, in the debate sparked by Hossein’s speech, many seem to be looking for the culprit for poor literacy. Who is responsible for investing in reading? Schools? Home? National Literacy Strategy? If everyone is so worried, why is no one doing anything?

In reality work on literacy is done continuously on many fronts. In order to carry our own cards, Helsingin Sanomat started publishing the weekly HS Children’s News newspaper alongside a video children’s newscast. Many thought the idea was nuts. How did we imagine getting diginatives to read a paper newsletter when reading in an age group anyway?

In our work, we strive not to inflate the news, but to produce it in a child-oriented manner. In light of the reader feedback we received and the number of subscribers, it looks like the kids are really excited to read the news. That’s why I dare say the key to finding a lock is the right kind of content. When a child just gets something to read about, the reading is not so numb.

I decided also ask readers of our newspaper about it. I got a bunch of answers in my email. The nine-year-old girl says she initially had difficulty starting to read, but she eventually managed to immerse herself in the story and read an awful lot as a result. Still, he feels he doesn’t always want or dare to read. A boy of the same age says he reads news and comics. The eight-year-old says he didn’t want to read at all at first, but eventually got excited about the horse books.

Our children’s newspaper mainly reaches children whose homes invest in reading. If even reading children say they get bored easily when there’s a lot of other stimulation on offer, how about others?

That is why there is a constant need to invest in literacy so that everyone can even read something. Be it children’s books, news, cartoons or game reviews. Interesting reading must be made available to all children.

However, putting pressure on uninteresting texts is not the answer. If the child does not find the reading, reading will always be somewhat repulsive to him.

The author is the forerunner of HS Children’s News.