TIRUCHY: The school education department’s 'Vaasipu Iyakkam' to promote reading among students pursuing Classes 4-9 in government schools would likely be extended to all schools in the state after September, sources said.
An extension of the programme that was launched at Thuraiyur in the district on July 21 to cover all classes would also be made based on the success of the ongoing pilot phase, they added. The initiative, which sources said formed shape based on the advice of the 'Palli Kalvi Pathukappu Iyakkam', is currently on in government schools in a total of 11 unions in 11 districts.
Under the programme, books provided to the students are classified into four types - Nuzhai (enter), Nada (walk), Oadu (run) and Para (fly) based on the complexity of the stories. Books under the basic level, 'Nuzhai' comprise mostly of pictures while those offered under 'Para' focus more on text.
"All the 51 books will have only one story each, with the page number not exceeding 16," said S Moses, one of the six state-level coordinators of the programme. 'Nuzhai' offers 10 books, 'Nada' 11 books, 'Oadu' 16 books and 'Para', 14 books.
An additional two books are dedicated for songs. A department source said the books were written by around 40 teachers from government schools across the state who evinced interest and also have experience in children’s stories.
Some of the stories also drew inspiration from popular foreign ones, the source added. S Maheswaran, Thuraiyur union coordinator, said, "Students who read the books are being asked to interpret the story on their own and give their own ending.
They are also asked to illustrate based on what they read." "If students write stories on their own inspired by the ones they read, it would also be turned into books, thereby inspiring their peers into reading." While coordinators assigned for each of the 11 unions will be overseeing the 153 Illam Thedi Kalvi (ITK) volunteers tasked with the work of monitoring school students, every school will additionally have a teacher and a student coordinator to monitor in their absence, sources said. With these, the success of the programme’s pilot phase is along expected lines, Moses said.