Kendrapara: Book reading has gone to backseat in modern society as students remain too busy in social media.
To encourage book reading among students, the Block Education Officer (BEO) of Derabish has taken upon himself the task of making students of private and government schools of the block mandatorily read books on the last period of every Wednesday.
According to Narahari Sutar of Derabish block, when he joined here as BEO, he saw all students skip classes during the library period that falls on the last period of Wednesday.
He found students have little interest in book reading. He decided to encourage students and teachers to go for book reading for improving their skills.
“When I was officiating at Ganjam, I saw the district administration took initiatives to encourage students to read books during the library period every week. Being influenced, I started this here at Derabish block,” said Sutar.
He has started DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) program at more than 250 schools including government-run and primary schools, aiming to inculcate reading habit among students and teachers to improve their vocabulary and spelling ability.
According to Sutar, earlier one found books remaining untouched for months gathering dust at Library racks. However, things have changed since the DEAR programme started in every school in the block.
It has become mandatory for all including teachers, students and peons, to read books during the library period either at their respective classrooms or in the library.
Reading is one of the most fundamental skills a child needs to learn to succeed in life. Developing good reading habits is vital for students’ future not just academically but in everyday life. Reading develops vocabulary. The more a child reads, the more new words will find their way into his vocabulary. Reading allows for exposure to words and phrases that might not be used as part of normal speech. Besides this reading increases attention on time and allows one to focus better and longer periods. Reading combats the epidemic of poor attention span in today’s children.
Good reading habits prepare children and lead to a lifelong love for books. This will serve them well throughout their life. The most important thing is reading encourages a thirst for knowledge and develops interest in other cultures, Sutar said.
Meanwhile, the DEAR programme started two years back in all schools of Derabish block, has achieved a hundred per cent success as all schools have been organizing DEAR programme during the library period. Even, students have developed an interest in book reading. Meanwhile, most students have been spending their leisure time in book reading, he said.
Being inspired by Derabish block, all other blocks in the district have followed the DEAR programme.
District Collector Samarth Verma stated that he had approved the DEAR programme and asked all BEOs to organise book reading in all schools of the district in the last period (library period) of each Wednesday. It will improve students’ knowledge and they would properly utilize their time without wasting it on social media.
