At the Government Higher Secondary School in Okkiam Thoraipakkam, class IX student D. Dexin said he now gets to pick books off his classroom library whenever he finds time — even during breaks and free periods.
His is one of the ten government schools which are a part of NGO Samskriya Foundation’s ‘Read-a-Way’ Library programme being implemented along with the School Education Department. The idea is to display books given to schools as part of the programme in the classroom itself.
On Wednesday, the initiative was scaled up to include 40 more government schools in Kancheepuram district. “Each of the schools is being given 240 books,” said Sandhya Jaichandren, managing trustee of the foundation.
School Education secretary D. Sabitha said the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation method, which places importance on scholastic as well as co-scholastic aspects, has been implemented in schools across the State.
N. Ram, Chairman, Kasturi & Sons Ltd remarked that despite encyclopaedias and dictionaries now available in the digital format, print is still very important in the Indian context. He added that publishers have to make their books attractive. “Quality of the publication, its attractiveness, the illustrations, the design of the type, all becomes important in addition to the subject matter in the book. You also have to ensure accuracy,” he said.
V.C. Rameswara Murugan, Director of School Education, Purni Krishnakumar, trustee, Samskriya Foundation, and M. Ponnuswami, chairman, Pure Chemicals Pvt. Ltd, were present.
