THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Efforts are on to promote ‘Thaliru’, the highly informative, yet sidelined, monthly published by the State Institute of Children’s Literature, among government schools. The Director of Public Instruction (DPI) has issued a circular to district-level education officers asking them to encourage schools to subscribe to ‘Thaliru.’ Attractive offers and contests are also planned to boost the magazine.
"Since the formation of valuable ideas indicates a society’s growth, magazines such as ‘Thaliru’ should be widely read and discussed by the students,’’ says the circular. Increasing the population of ‘Vidyarangam’ subscribers, conducting
‘Thaliru’ reading contests with gift coupons worth Rs 500 and certificates as prizes, and attractive offers on subscription rate are planned.
Using the gift coupon, students can purchase books from selected bookshops. The annual subscription is Rs 110, but if there are 10 children in a unit, they need pay only Rs 1,000.
Special schemes have been devised under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) for promoting ‘Thaliru’ among poor students. School headmasters have been asked to ensure that poor students get the magazine with financial assistance from SSA and RMSA.
‘Thaliru’ had been in the news recently after the State Institute of Children’s Literature made it a fortnightly. But barely three months later, it was back to being a monthly owing to losses. Though the magazine has rich educational content, it is not being patronised even by the government schools.