Young People Hold Book Exhibition in Kabul

KABUL, AUG 9: A group of young people in Kabul held a book exhibition called “Smart Way” to strengthen the reading culture. Young people said that they intend to encourage citizens, especially young people, to read books by launching such programs. “We held it to create a culture for the youth of our society to read books, books are entertainment for them,” said Sharifa Hesar, an organizer. “The purpose of holding this exhibition is to strengthen the culture of reading among young people,” said Farhad Malik Zada, an organizer. Meanwhile, some visitors at the exhibition told TOLOnews that economic challenges, lack of jobs, and high usage of social media are the reasons that people don’t study enough. However, visitors said holding such exhibitions were effective in strengthening the culture of reading. “We asked the young people to buy and read books in this hard situation where schools and universities are closed, and there are no work opportunities for them,” said Nayema, a visitor. “Here our youth gathered in one place to buy and sell books and study, and this gives us a better motivation to build our homeland,” said Faisal, a visitor. The Ministry of Information and Culture also expressed concern about the diminishing of book culture, saying that the importance of the culture is recognized in the world, but not in Afghanistan. “All over the world reading culture exists, but unfortunately in Afghanistan, young people are not reading books,” said Muhajir Farahi, deputy of the Ministry of Culture and Information. Booksellers in Kabul and the provinces have repeatedly expressed concern about the stagnation of the book-selling market in the last two years.