Drop Everything And Read: Schools promoting reading habit

In order to develop reading habits among children, city schools are coming up with innovative techniques. These ideas range from introducing child-friendly magazines for students to read at school, to making provisions for comics in their e-libraries, and even adopting a theme for a certain period in class.

Apart from wanting to instill the habit in their students, some schools are promoting reading as they believe it will help keep children away from television. Other institutes are of the opinion that reading habits may improve the English of their students.

JBCN International School, Borivli, has welcomed the NatGeo channel to distribute their magazines in school. Fatima Agarkar, managing trustee, JBCN, hopes students will use their free time constructively. She said, "Children spend too much time watching television. Our hope is that children read "controlled" text in different ways to occupy themselves, which is always more rewarding."

St Andrew's High School, Bandra, too, is of a similar view. The school has an e-library where students from std I to X can browse through different educational books.

Fr Magi Murzello, the school's principal, said, "In addition to having the library, our e-library will help our children not only improve their English, but also infuse a healthy reading habit in them."

Going a step further, Oberoi International School is observing "Literacy Week". The school is calling celebrities like renowned Irish storyteller Niall De Burca, who will promote the importance of reading, as well as inter-cultural awareness and boosting self-esteem.

Explaining the theme that the school has adopted, Puja Srivastava, a member of the school leadership team, said, "The theme, DEAR time (Drop Everything And Read) is for 15mins daily in class. Each day, students are told the time when they have to drop everything and read."