Kerala Assembly and its library a model for the country, says Speaker

‘A proposal to make books in the library accessible to public under consideration’

Sessions of the Kerala Assembly and functioning of its library are a model for the rest of the country, Speaker A.N. Shamseer has said.

He was at the Government Vocational Higher Secondary School for Girls, Nadakkavu, here on Saturday to open the centenary celebrations of the library being held in north Kerala districts of Kozhikode, Kannur, Kasaragod, and Wayanad.

Mr. Shamseer said that the ‘Kerala Model’ of development in health and education has been discussed worldwide. He said that the authorities were deliberating about a proposal to make the books and other reference material in the library accessible to the public. Efforts were also being made to translate the debates in the Constituent Assembly into Malayalam.

Mr. Shamseer also sought to create a reading culture that went beyond the academic syllabus. Along with improving the infrastructure in educational institutions, steps should be also taken to set up libraries there. He said that the new generation should be made aware of the joys of reading. Libraries could set up in every wards and grama panchayats.

The Speaker recalled that libraries had played a significant role in inculcating renaissance values in people. In the post-independence period, they also played a part in the material growth of the working class, he added.

The Speaker also went through an exhibition that threw light on the history of the Kerala Assembly, being held on the school premises. Earlier, Mr. Shamseer visited writer M.T. Vasudevan Nair at his residence. Mr. Shamseer informed the writer about the centenary celebrations of the Assembly Library. The Speaker also visited the residence of the late writer Vaikom Mohammed Basheer at Vailalil in Beypore. Mr. Shamseer also spoke to Basheer’s family members.