NEW DELHI: To inculcate the habit of reading among children in classes 1-5, the Delhi government on Saturday inaugurated 100 new libraries in government schools. These are in addition to the 100 libraries that the government had opened last year during the same month last year in collaboration with non-profit organisation Room To Read.
The government had then said that such libraries will be set up in over 430 Sarvodaya Schools over the next three years, as they play a huge role in supplementing the normal course of teaching inside classrooms. At the Dr Rajendra Prasad Sarvodaya School, President’s Estate, the walls of the library have been done up with cartoons. Special shelves with levels for each class have been marked by using different colours such as Green for Class I, containing books that only have pictures, followed by Red, Orange, White and Yellow.
“The children are free to take books of their own choice. It’s separate from a common library available to all classes and younger children find it more engaging,” said the library in-charge at the school.
Speaking with the teachers and students at the school, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, “The children’s library is a great place to read and learn, understand and explain.”
The Room to Read had last year signed a MoU with the Delhi government to build 450 libraries in partnership with the Directorate of Education. An official said, “100 such libraries were built last year... The aim here is to develop literacy and a habit of reading.”