Happy reading: NGO launches project to get children back to books

“Our interaction with children over the last few years has revealed that they are not enthusiastic about going to the library. By placing the books in the classroom,we want to familiarise the children and motivate them to read the books,” she said. The reason Class V was chosen,said Neena,was because this was the age when children “start grasping things,and start getting imaginative and creative”.

The project was launched on Thursday at Government Model Senior Secondary School,Sector 40. School principal Rajinder Kaur said the experiment led to much excitement among students. “Children like reading books with good pictures. With this move,we have brought the library closer to the children. I believe that each and every classroom should have its own library,so that children are free to read when they please,” she said.

In addition to these ten schools,35 more government schools are going to benefit from ‘Project Jagriti’. As part of an earlier initiative,‘Project Udaan’,BPF had provided such libraries at 35 government schools. These schools too will shift these libraries to Class V classrooms.

Iqbal Singh,managing director of the company that has financed the project,said he wanted to extend it to ten more schools. “Books inspire children in many ways. It is sad that this beautiful habit is now on the wane. Through this initiative,we encourage children to discover the pleasure of reading during their leisure hours,” he said.

Neena highlighted that during the zero period every Saturday,children would read these books and would be allowed to take them home too. “To begin with,we have kept small,delightful books in Hindi to arouse their interest. These are fairy tales,Panchatantra,folk tales and pictorial books. After they develop the habit of reading,we will start with the English reading programme.”