ZAMBOANGA CITY—WITH the launch of the Inquirer Learning Corner (ILC) recently at the Regional Science High School (RSHS) in Barangay San Roque here, more students are motivated to read the daily newspapers.
The RSHS is one of 10 schools, where an ILC has been put up, thanks to the support of Zamboanga City Rep. Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar.
Climaco-Salazar, who used to be a school teacher, said she decided to support the establishment of the “Inqspots” because they would help the students.
“When I was young, I read the newspaper and I read it out loud. Newspapers helped me develop my grammar and pronunciation. I became a TV news reader,” she said.
In this city, after all, children appear to be defying what is becoming the norm for today’s generation.
Instead of relying on the new media, say the Internet, for information, the youth here would usually pick up a fresh copy of the Inquirer to find out what is going on in their city, the country and the world.
Melanie Minez, RSHS principal, agreed that many students were going back to newspapers as their source of information.
“I remember my father could not go to a restroom without a newspaper. It was our way of life before and, hopefully, with an ILC here, it will motivate more teenagers to appreciate reading all forms of materials,” Minez said.
High school student Mark John Manuel, 12, said sports stories were among his favorite.
“Stories on sports thrill me,” he said, adding that reading sports news always made him feel like he was part of the action, too.
He said the printed copy also proved useful when they discussed certain stories.
“Discussions could sometimes become intense and it would be (to your) advantage if you have the hard copy as evidence,” Manuel said.
He said lack of time to watch television or listen to the radio also made them turn to newspapers for daily information.
“We have lots of pressure in school and we have little time to watch TV. It’s good the newspaper is always there. We can pick it up anytime and read our favorite sports stories,” Manuel said.
Gersheena Florendo, editor in chief of the school paper of the RSHS, said she used newspapers as “my indirect learning tool.”
Florendo admitted she had no strong background in journalism when she was chosen editor in chief of their campus paper.
“But by reading newspapers, after a time you get to learn more about editorial writing, hard news, features and even lifestyle stories,” Florendo said.
Villages, too
Inquirer Learning Corners have also been put up in the villages of San Roque and Tetuan here.
Felipe Natividad, Tetuan village chair, said “this newspaper corner is a great help for us.”
“If we have some constituents visiting our office, newspapers are available and they can read while waiting (to be attended to). When they go home, they’ll bring some knowledge taken from the pages of the newspapers they had read,” he said.
Natividad said “people will get to appreciate reading newspapers when they see several copies in a corner.”
“They’ll be enticed to turn a page and soon they may start looking for a copy of their own,” he said.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
