Visakhapatnam: Library period to take a new avatar

Visakhapatnam: In a move to make reading a pleasurable experience and help students brace for 'happy reading hours', teachers in government schools will be virtually trained in storytelling techniques, effective utilisation of library resources and management.

Taking the State Government's innovative campaign 'We Love Reading' to the next level, a customised training session is being facilitated to teachers at mandal-level.

In line with this, teachers will be introduced to a variety of storytelling techniques along with the measures to be followed to maintain school book banks and organise post reading activities, among other areas. "The idea is to make students discover the joy of reading. National-level resource persons will train 10 teachers in 650 mandals. The trained teachers will further share insights of the orientation programme with the rest of the teachers in a phased manner," says TVS Ramesh, academic monitoring officer of Samagra Shiksha.

Experts from the National Council of Educational Research and Training, Room to Read and Pratham will impart virtual training to 6,500 teachers across the state. A baseline assessment will be conducted through which students will be assessed and categorised into four levels. "Depending on the ability to read, students will be given customised books -- books with words, books with sentences, paragraphs and storybooks to read during the library period," elaborates Ramesh.

Currently, two library periods have been incorporated in the daily timetable of the government schools. In addition to providing direct access to national-level experts, the virtual orientation programme aims at generating interest among non-readers and improving the overall reading standards of the students. Soon, students will look forward to the library sessions which are going to take a new avatar.