Building reading habits, July launch for Vasippu Iyakkam
The classroom library will have 53 Tamil books, which have been sent to all 38 districts.
Illustration by Saai
CHENNAI: The School Education Department’s Vasippu Iyakkam (reading movement), through which libraries will be set up in government school classrooms, is all set to help students pick up the reading habit. The initiative is likely to be launched by July mid-week, say education officials.
The classroom library will have 53 Tamil books, which have been sent to all 38 districts.
The department is now preparing to launch them in 11 educational blocks of the State in the first phase. However, it’s still unclear if the initiative will be extended to government-aided schools.
The pilot project will be implemented in Villupuram, Chennai, Erode, Coimbatore, Tiruchy, Thanjavur, Cuddalore, Dindigul, Madurai, Thoothukudi and Mayiladuthurai.
According to Pallikalvi Padhukappu Iyyakam, the team has catered the books to students between classes 4 and 9. The department has divided them into four categories so that students gradually develop reading habits over time.
The books have been divided into levels such as nulai (enter), nada (walk), oodu (run) and para (fly) under the title ‘Oru Kadhai, Oru Puthagam and 16 Pakkam’.
P Thirumurgan, panchayat union middle school teacher in Mayiladuthurai, said, “Each level will have a minimum of 10 books, and each book will contain a story with 16 sides, written by children’s authors and teachers. The initial stage will have simple sentences with pictures to keep students engaged. With each stage, the sentences have been increased with pictures, so that students don’t lose interest.”
Though initially, the department was planning on only 53 books, soon, over 250 books will be released with stories from government school students. Additionally, the books at the entry level will have pictures with one-line text while those in the nada (walk) level will have pictures with a paragraph.
K Bala Shanmugam, a Nagapattinam government-aided teacher who has written a book called ‘Thatha poochi’ at the nada-level, which is one of the 53 books, said, “All books have used gender-neutral terms and sentences that break stereotypes like assigning gender roles. We’ve focused on keeping students inquisitive of the reading process.”
