Towards reading

Updated on: Monday, August 02, 2010

Children don't read newspapers these days” is a common complaint. But going by the popularity of The Hindu Newspapers in Education (NIE) programme, the complaint stands unsubstantiated.

This iNIE programme was launched at many schools in the city and one such was P.S.B.B. Nungambakkam where the programme was first launched years ago. Present during the inauguration were Dr. Mrs. Y.G.P., Dean and Directors, P.S.B.B. group of institutions, Dr. Sudha Seshayyan, Resistrar, The Tamil Nadu Dr.M.G.R. Medical University, and Dr. Mohan Rajan, Director, Rajan Eye Care, apart from school principal Mrs. Valli Arunachalam.

Speaking on the occasion, Mrs. Y.G.P. recalled her days as a journalist and then added that the programme was serving to revive the students' interest in the field. She also said that the programme helped promote the newspaper reading habit among children who otherwise sufficed with just scanning through the sports page.

Dr. Sudha Seshayyan emphasised on the need for the students to develop into wholesome individuals and this she said can be achieved by making a habit out of reading newspapers everyday. “The habit of reading newspapers, if cultivated, can sustain an individual during times of crisis,” she felt. While addressing the students, she also confessed to being an ardent reader of the Young World and that she collected articles from the supplement and bound them into books which she read often.

Meanwhile, Dr. Mohan Rajan pointed out things that can be learnt from a newspaper. He asked the students for the day's headlines and when a student replied, he said that apart from the factual knowledge, there are valuable life lessons to be learnt, for instance — no one is above the law, is the message he derived from the day's headline.

At the Maharishi Vidya Mandir S.S.S., Chetpet, Gagandeep Singh Bedi, I.A.S, Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board delivered the key note address.

“School life is the foundation of our career. If the foundation is not strong the building will collapse,” said Mr. Bedi. “We should not confine ourselves to text books, instead should explore other sources of information as well,” he said.

Students were all ears while he pointed out the importance of reading and how it could help develop the overall personality of children. He quoted Abraham Lincoln to emphasise this point, “A capacity, and taste, for reading, gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others.”

The NIE programme covers around 350 schools reaching out to six lakh students.

Towards reading

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