Tabloid: 'Games cause kids' illiteracy'

Playing video games is the reason why Britain's children have dropped from 3rd to 15th in the worldwide literacy league tables, claims The Sun.

The paper states: “Kids hooked on computer games have sent England plummeting down world league tables for reading. Ministers claimed pupils spend so much time on consoles that they are not burying their noses in books."

The tabloid published the story following a study of literacy amongst primary school children, which revealed more than a third of 10-year-olds spend three hours or more per day playing video games; a figure - the study claims - that is far higher in Britain than for children in other European countries.

Schools secretary Ed Balls added: “Today’s youngsters have more choice now than in 2001 about how they spend their time. Most of them have their own TVs and mobiles and 37% are playing computer games for three hours a day. We all need to help our children of all ages to see that reading can bring fun to their lives.”