Children's reading skills concern

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The Government said pupils were abandoning books and spending too much of their free time playing computer games, leading to lower standards of reading among 10-year-olds.

The study of children in 45 countries and provinces saw England slump from third place in 2001 to 19th position in 2006. Only Morocco and Romania saw their results fall more sharply, according to the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls).

Schools Secretary Ed Balls said: "The scale of these falls is less significant than the direction of change: we have gone backwards."

Mr Balls said parents must do more to encourage their children to read at home.

"Today's 10-year-olds have more choice than in 2001 about how they spend their free time," he said.

"Most of them have their own TVs and mobiles, and 37% are playing computer games for three hours or more a day - more than in most countries in the study."

He said parents should try to make sure "kids play computer games a little less".

"Computer games are taking over from reading," he said. "We all as parents need to have a bit more reading and a little less computer games."

Researchers gathered figures from 40 countries, testing 4,000 children in each country for their reading skills aged nine, 10 or 11.