Under new Act,state to have more libraries

Education minister says new Library Act will be based on similar ones in other states

Admitting that reading habits were poor in the state,Punjab Education Minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan on Saturday promised to introduce a Library Act in the state,that will be based on similar legislature operational in states like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. “ To inculcate reading habits among students in rural as well as urban areas,under the proposed Act, libraries will be set up in villages,tehsils apart from city areas. Books in Punjabi,English and Hindi will be available in these libraries apart from newspapers and magazines as well,” Sekhwan said at the valedictory ceremony of the Punjab youth and heritage festival at the Government College for Women.

The education minister,however,did not set any deadline for the proposal. At present,only a few public libraries exist in the city and they too are in shambles because of limited books and poor membership figures.

Sekhwan also indicated that a change in the syllabus of elementary and higher education was to be expected as a new education policy is being framed in the state.

He also announced that 17 new colleges had been granted approval in this government’s tenure and said any university giving affiliation to the new colleges,will receive Rs 1.5 crore per annum as grant for each college.