Cultural initiative promotes book exchanges in Nicaragua
Managua, Jan 8 (EFE).- El Rincón de Fabi, a reading promotion platform to attract new readers in Nicaragua, held its first book exchange of the year on Saturday, because, according to its developer, journalist Fabiola Tercero, “knowledge must flow”.
Different works of foreign and Nicaraguan literature were exchanged, as well as books for children, accounting, English, among other genres, Tercero told EFE.
The journalist, who is behind the cultural initiative, explained that this platform to promote reading started in 2017 with the intention of attracting new readers in the digital age using the dynamic of giving away books through a barter or raffle system.
“El Rincón de Fabi was born in view of the need that there are no spaces for readers (in Nicaragua), that not everyone has access to books or, sometimes, some people have books and they remain on a shelf gathering dust, (and) knowledge must flow,” she said.
She said that the cultural initiative has gained acceptance and that thousands of books have been donated, many of which are then exchanged.
“This type of activity is needed because we are a poor country and educational resources need to be specifically on comprehension, reflection and reasoning, which is what is lacking in public schools in this country, where there is no critical thinking and argumentation,” she said.
“Children today read for the sake of reading, but we need children to reflect,” she explained.
The aim of El Rincón de Fabi is to promote reading and make books of any genre accessible so that new generations can enjoy them without worrying about their price, according to Tercero.
Under the initiative, readers can exchange books, but also, if they can and want to, donate them and she distributes them free of charge.
Noel Castellón, who attended the book exchange, praised the initiative in a country, where “cultural expression does not have many spaces of dissemination nor of contact with the population.”
The performance of Nicaraguan students in science, mathematics and reading is below the region’s average, according to the results of UNESCO’s Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (ERCE), which urged the country to develop an educational plan. EFE
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