'No takers for library sessions in govt schools'

CHENNAI: To inculcate learning habits among government school students, the School Education Department made it compulsory to hold library reading sessions in schools, last academic year. However, several teachers claim that the motive of this initiative is lost due to poor implementation, lack of books, and students overloaded with activities.

For the reading session, all government and government-aided schools were directed to allocate one library period in a week. And, besides this, every day, the teachers have also been requested to give 20 minutes after lunch break for students to read newspapers.

But, teachers say implementation of such basic initiatives among several other schemes and programmes is quite a challenge.

Additionally, there are not enough updated books in government and aided schools that will grasp the interest of students.

"We have been told to allocate library sessions, but I hardly notice any students engrossed in the book. Having said that, students cannot be blamed for it. There are not enough books. Hence, books must be updated every five years for students to develop a reading habit," said a government-aided school teacher.

Additionally, a government teacher in Chengalpattu also said that as it is mandatory for them to enter the list of books read by students into the Education Management Information System (EMIS) portal, they have no choice, but to upload false data.

"As most students are disinterested in reading and hardly finish a book, we have no choice but to upload false data in the EMIS portal. To avoid this, the Education Department should update books in the library and stop bombarding students with a slew of activities," the teacher opined.

Meanwhile, as per the instruction of former State Chief Secretary Irai Anbu, the Education Department Director G Arivoli has directed schools to begin reading clubs.