Vasippu Iyakkam to be extended to all government schools in Tiruchi

School Education Dept. to extend Vasippu Iyakkam to all govt. schools in Tiruchi. Aim is to nurture reading habit among students & utilise school libraries. Books classified into 4 types based on complexity. 53 books written by 40 teachers, some inspired by classic stories. Students asked to interpret, write reviews, draw pictures, narrate summaries or write essays. Books to be converted into audio-visual format. Pilot project has received good reception. Volunteers appointed to facilitate students. Teacher & student coordinator to monitor progress.

The School Education Department would soon extend Vasippu Iyakkam, a movement to nurture the reading habit among students and encourage them to utilise the books in their school libraries, to all government schools in Tiruchi.

The initiative was launched at Thuraiyur block in the district recently on a pilot bases to promote reading among students of Classes 4 to 9 in government schools.

Under the programme, books provided to the students are classified into four types, Nuzhai (Enter), Nada (Walk), Odu (Run) and Para (Fly) based on the complexity of the stories. Books under the basic level comprise mostly pictures while those under the higher level focus more on text.

There are 10 books in Nuzhai, 11 in Nada, 16 in Odu and 14 in Para, and all the books will have only one short story each. All the 53 books have been written by around 40 teachers from government schools across the State, who evinced interest and have experience in writing children’s stories. Some of the stories have also drawn inspiration from classic short stories.

After reading the book, students are asked to interpret the story and write a review, draw a picture based on it, narrate a summary of the plot, or write an essay. The books would be converted into audio-visual format for the benefit of the students.

According to officials of the SED in the district, the pilot project has received good reception among the students. “Students are also encouraged to write stories based on the ones they read. The best ones would be converted into storybooks to increase their interest in reading,” they said.

Volunteers of Illam Thedi Kalvi are appointed to facilitate the students in reading books in various formats. A teacher and a student coordinator have also been assigned to monitor the progress of the initiative in their school.