NEW DELHI: Months after the Economic Survey of Delhi 2025-26 highlighted significant learning deficit among school students and proposed modernisation of government school libraries, the city has rolled out a comprehensive reading promotion initiative aimed at fostering a stronger reading culture across its schools.
The Economic Survey, presented in March, had identified learning gaps among nearly 7.5 lakh students studying in Classes I to VIII. To address these challenges, it had announced plans to upgrade 125 government school libraries during the current academic session.
Each upgraded library is set to receive 20 digital devices, 20 headphones, a library kiosk, a charging cart and a printer, aimed to make learning resources more accessible and engaging for students.
Building on those recommendations, the Directorate of Education on Monday directed all government schools to introduce a structured programme to cultivate reading habits among students in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
Under the new guidelines, there should be a dedicated library period every week, ‘read aloud’ sessions and ‘book talk’, where students will have to present a brief introduction to a book they have read, highlighting the story, characters and why others should read it. Schools will have to organise reading challenges, storytelling competitions, reading buddy programmes and book review writing.
Every month, one author will be introduced to the children through displays, book collections and discussions. There will be a reading wall in each classroom where students will write their favourite quotes from books they read or paste any illustrations they loved.
Besides, the education department has also asked the schools to have a ‘character dress-up day’, which will be an annual event when students will dress up as characters from books and present their roles.
The initiative also seeks to involve families in children’s reading habits. Schools have been asked to organise quarterly parent reading workshops and encourage parents to spend at least 10 minutes reading with their children at home every day.
Librarians have been directed to prominently display new books, issue at least two books to every student each week, maintain reading records and provide individual support to reluctant readers.
The directorate has said that implementation of these measures will be monitored through school inspections and monthly review meetings, with heads of schools responsible for ensuring compliance.
The latest initiative echoes similar efforts undertaken by the previous AAP government. In 2016, they had launched the “Every Child Can Read” campaign, aimed at ensuring that every student in classes 6 to 8 could read grade-level textbooks by Children’s Day. As part of that programme, School Management Committee members uses to organise a community-based “Reading Melas” every Sunday.
New directions
Weekly library period
Read-aloud sessions
Book talks by students
Book reviews
Reading challenges
Storytelling competitions
Reading buddy programme
Annual ‘Character Dress-up Day’
Reading wall in every classroom
One author featured every month
Quarterly parent reading workshops
Parents to read with children 10 minutes daily