CHENNAI: The School Education Department has issued a government order to streamline the reading of non-academic books among government school students in classes 1-8 and enhance the use of school libraries.
The schedule outlines weekly topics on which books can be provided to students in each class throughout the academic year. The topics range from sports, animals, environment, science, to the importance of education and uses of internet, among others. It also includes a plan to organise activities such as storytelling sessions, speeches, and group discussions based on reading material.
This move is in line with school education minister’s announcement that storytelling sessions, reading challenges, and theme-based reading weeks would be introduced in government schools to improve reading proficiency through better use of libraries. The G.O. has also directed the SCERT to prepare suitable reading materials for each topic and the Integrated Education Department to implement the initiative.
Last year, the School Education Department scaled up its Vasippu Iyakkam initiative to cover all government schools across TN. As part of this, each classroom was provided with over 120 Tamil books tailored to various reading levels. Elementary Education Department officials said this latest initiative is a refinement of Vasippu, designed to provide more clarity for teachers. The Directorate of Elementary Education has prepared a schedule that matches the reading levels of students in each class, they added.