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chools are places where you send your children not only to learn but also to love books.

Most parents face difficulties nowadays to get their children to read, as kids now are preferring television and Internet over books.

This fact is inevitable with urban families, as technology continues to advance in the digital era, replacing old-fashioned books.

But of course, this condition doesn’t stop parents finding solutions, including trying to share the problem with teachers.

Schools in the capital have gone all out trying to encourage students to enjoy reading.

Look at the case of St. Bellarminus schools in Menteng, Central Jakarta, for example. The school has been introducing the “swap book” program to stimulate students’ love for reading.

Under the program, every student must bring one book and exchange it with their friends’ in the beginning of the school year.

The school also includes a special subject on libraries, where students are required to visit a library every week.

In English class, the school also gives students story-telling sessions so that children can discover reading as a fun activity.

Parents welcome and support these activities.

“My daughter has become more resourceful and critical even though she is only eight,” Alex told The Jakarta Post.

Alex says she sometime learns new information from her daughter thanks to her reading hobby.

“She tells me she learned that it is not good for people to drink while eating because it is hard on your digestive system,” she said.

Child psychologist Rose Mini highlights the importance of schools in the role of encouraging children to love reading.

“Apart from family and parents, schools are the best place to instill good habits and values,” she says.

Children in the capital consider schools as their second home, as they spend most time at schools. Therefore, some parents have decided to share their responsibility in educating their children with teachers, and that also includes how to increase children’s love of reading. But the good news is that the campaign on promoting books among students does not only run by teachers.

Students of state high school SMA 49 in Jagakarsa, South Jakarta, have formed a Library Lovers Club (LLC) in their school to encourage other students to love reading.

“We meet routinely every week and hold a discussion about one book,” says Sandra Dewi Febiane Iskandar, the former head of LCC.

Sandra has gone to college in Padjajaran University in Bandung, but she still remembers vividly how the program works effectively in encouraging readings among students in the school.

The group is still running until now, under the supervision of the school’s teacher Djogja Nurdjani, who is also the founder of the community.

But despite such efforts from teachers and students, many schools still find difficulty in promoting reading activities.

“Students’ interest to read has been decreasing since the Internet. They even go to the library to browse the Internet and not read books,” says Margaretha Sutarti, librarian at St. Theresia school in Menteng, Central Jakarta.

The school data shows that only an average of 20 students visit the library every day. The school has a total of 1,036 students.