School Libraries and Reading

Welcome Address 1
PROCEEDINGS
OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
ON
Sc hool Li br ar i es
and Redi ng
HELD AT
VIDYA BHAWAN SOCIETY, UDAIPUR
Udaipur, October 3–5, 2008
ICSL 2008
Edited by
Vidya Bhawan Society
Fatehpura
Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
[email protected]
Tel: +91 294 245 0911; +91 294 245 1323
Welcome Address 2
About Vidya Bhawan
Vidya Bhawan started off as a small middle school with only four classes, way back in 1931 when the
percentage of literacy in Mewar State was only 4.9.
The school was allotted a plot of four acres the larger part of which was rocky, uncultivable and widely
overgrown with cactus bushes. Although this plot was at that time useless and desolate, it lay in wild,
healthy and picturesque surroundings about a quarter of a mile from Fatehsagar Lake.
Vidya Bhawan drew its inspiration from the tenets of the Boy Scout Movement with an emphasis on
community services.
Founded at a time of great national ferment, when India was at the height of her struggle for political
self government, Vidya Bhawan could not but be affected by the social climate in the country. However,
the founders of Vidya Bhawan chose social reconstruction, which they felt was of as great value for
national freedom and regeneration as (though less spectacular than) the political struggle.
In keeping with the progressive character of the effort Vidya Bhawan was probably the first to
introduce co-education in feudal Rajasthan. It also aimed at shifting the emphasis from book learning
to character formation. Physical, aesthetic and moral education still forms an integral part of the
educational programme at Vidya Bhawan. A psychological laboratory exists for gauging the mental
and physical capacities of the children, a concept which initially created problems of its own as parents
brought their difficult children to Vidya Bhawan after having used all manner of harsh methods to
improve them.
A system of student self government is endorsed by Vidya Bhawan and its emphasis in community
life translates into camps. The spirit of Vidya Bhawan expects and encourages students to take
responsibility for working with their hands and taking up manual work such as dish washing, cleaning
and developing their surroundings, tending gardens, working on machines and looking after agricultural
farm and dairy.
The emphasis on mutual co-operation finds representation in a unique feature of group activity where
Vidya Bhawan tries to eschew individual competition as far as possible. There were no individual
prizes for achievements in studies, games, athletics or cultural activities in the school. Nor are there any
competitive scholarships.
Vidya Bhawan today is a sprawling complex of institutions with large and spacious grounds. Apart from
the four schools, Vidya Bhawan includes a Teachers Training College (IASE), a Vidya Bahwan S.T.C., a
Vidya Bhawan Gandhiyan of Educational Studies, a Rural Institute which was set up with the objective
of providing courses in higher education related to the needs of the rural community, a Krishi Vigyan
Kendra which organises research and vocational training courses in agriculture and allied fields for practising
farmers and farm women to enable them to usefully employ themselves and improve the productivity
of their resources and increases their options and a Polytechnic along with a Community Polytechnic
wing to produce Engineers and to reach technical training to villages in a simple and comprehensible
manner. It now also has an Education Centre to co-ordinate and consolidate experiences of Vidya
Bhawan in education, bring fresh educational ideas conduct research and innovate in education and a
School for Citizenship that orient, prepare and motivate the elected representatives to understand and
perform their task with care and confidence and support them in this effort.
It is supported by many public and private institutions as well as individuals. It strives to provide quality
education and development to all. It is keen to learn and analyses its work and tries to continuously
learn from experience.
Welcome Address 3
About the Conference
An International Conference on “School Libraries and Reading” was jointly organized by the Vidya
Bhawan Society, Udaipur and Centre for Science Education and Communication (CSEC), University
of Delhi during October 3-5, 2008 at Vidya Bhawan Society, Udaipur Rajasthan. The major objec-
tives of the conference were, understanding the process of reading in all its aspects, relating children’s
reading to library resources, examination of status of school libraries in India and outside world,
drawing lessons from the success stories of library movements and exploration of the role of school
libraries in reinforcing school education. The conference had participants from a mixed background,
including those who have been working for years with libraries - conceptualizing them, setting them
up and running them; people who have been working with children and helping them learn to read
and use libraries, people who have thought about the linguistic aspects of reading and how children
learn to read, and also those who work with learners with disabilities in reading. The broad frame-
work of the conference was to share different perceptions and ideas and attempt to analyze more
carefully the questions of how school libraries are meaningful and the constraints in making them
operational. Sessions included presentations from those who have thought about these areas and those
who have tried to explore how to make the reading of books possible for children. Presentations
were made both in English as well as in Hindi, but for publication purpose we have translated the
Hindi presentations into English. We have tried to reproduce the proceedings as accurately as possible.
The paper presenters at the seminar were:
Krishna Kumar, Director, NCERT, New Delhi
Terry and Vijaya Varma
S. Majumdar, University of Delhi
Yashpal and Shehnaz, V.B. Society
Mr. Shastri, SCERT (Chhattisgarh)
Mr. Udalak Datta – Room to Read
Suruchi Sharma, Manju Yadav, Sanjay Sethi – Contributed Papers
Carole Janisch, Texas Tech University, Lubbock Texas, USA
Shobha Sinha, University of Delhi
Anjali Narona and Gopal Rathi, Eklavya
Parul Sharma and Alok Rathore, Care India
Pratibha Karanth, Director, The Com DEALL Trust, Bangalore
Sanjib Singha et al, Delhi Government School, Delhi
Rakesh Mohan Hallen, Centre for Science Education and Communication, Delhi Univeristy
Sadhna Saxena, University of Delhi
Charu Mathur, Akhtar Hnussai and Vijay Kumar
Manish Jain, New Education Group Foundation for Innovation and Research in Education, Delhi
Ajay Gupta, Digantar
Mr. Vinayak, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, Andhra Pradesh
Ms. Rupa, Teacher, MC Primary School, Delhi
Mr. Gurminder Singh, associated with UNICEF Mid day meal project, Bihar
Ms. Shushma Sharma, Librarian, Pratibha Vikas Vidhyala Delhi
Welcome Address 4
3 October 2008
Welcome Address
Mr. Riaz Tehsin
At the very outset, I extend, on my behalf and on behalf of Vidya Bhawan Society, a very
warm welcome to all of you, to this institution, to this
seminar, to this conference and to Udaipur. Vidya
Bhawan Society was established in 1931 in a modest
way in a small rented building with 4 or 5 classes with
an aim to prepare responsible and educated citizens for
the Independent Indian democracy. During this journey
of eighty years we have faced challenges with our
approach and philosophy of simplicity and sincerity:
Duty is Beautiful.
After Mahatma Gandhi propagated the idea of Buniyadi Taleem, basic education, in 1941,
Vidya Bhawan Society started the first basic school in Udaipur. In keeping with the educational
philosophy of the Society, a Teachers Training College was started to fulfill the need for
trained teachers. In 1944, the founders were approached by the then State Government
requesting trained craft teachers in each school. Consequently, Vidya Bhawan started a
handicraft institute in 1944 and trained craft teachers for almost all the schools of Rajasthan.
Unfortunately in 1995, this institute had to be closed down as government decided that craft
teachers were not needed. It now stands converted into an institution that is certified to teach
in elementary classes (STC). In 1956, eleven rural institutions for higher education for preparing
youth to work in the rural context were set up with the support of the Government of India.
This was when Dr. K.L. Shrimali, one of the founders of Vidya Bhawan Society, was the
Education Minister.
During the Green Revolution in 1984, under the chairmanship of Dr. Mohan Singh Mehta,
the founder of Vidya Bhawan, one of the first Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK) was established
in Vidya Bhawan, along with one in all districts of the country. The purpose was acquainting
farmers with modern techniques of agriculture. With this end in mind, agriculture even now
forms a part of the curriculum in the basic school.
We have also been running a Secondary school in an attempt to impart quality education in
the tribal belt of Udaipur. This is at the behest of a mining company, Rajasthan State Mines
and Minerals Limited (RSMML), a Government of Rajasthan undertaking. The school aims
Welcome Address 5
at providing better education to tribal students, particularly of the tribal workers in RSMML
mines. The Vidya Bhawan Education Resource Center was also started with the modest
support from RSMML in 1995 when Dr. Hriday Kant Dewan joined Vidya Bhawan Society.
More information on the resource center will follow in the course of this seminar.
In 1997, when the 73
rd
and 74
th
Amendment Bill was passed in the Parliament and Panchayati
Raj was gradually being established in India, particularly and when 33% reservation was given
to women, the Panchayati Raj Training Centre was started. It has now trained over 7000-8000
grass root representatives, acquainting them with their rights and responsibilities. This is through
a six-day training followed by subsequent interactions in the village. These are activities which
will hopefully extend to other areas as well. Vidya Bhawan has about 600 acres of forest land
and there is a possibility of setting up of a nature interpretation center where students from
different parts could come and experience a first hand knowledge of nature.
A mobile library was started on an experimental basis a couple of years ago. A library van
goes to the slum areas of Udaipur and provides books to children wanting to read. It also
helps students in these areas. We also have an Aanganwadi Training Center in Rural Institute.
All these add towards our attempts to build a space for integrated development of the society
and its children.
The vision of Vidya Bhawan is to have a peace loving and harmonious human society and to
convert uneducated masses into an educated responsible citizenry; and its goal is to provide
uncommon education to common people. These are the objectives we have been striving
towards for the last eighty years.
On the occasion of this seminar on Library and Reading we need to reflect on the role that
library, and librarians, and book reading can play in the education of not only the economically
poor students but also of the so-called academically poor students. It is not fair to equate the
quality of education with educational product, as it is often done. Education is not a product
and neither are the students going through it. The so-called educational product, say the
academically poor student, cannot be rejected or recycled as an industrial product can be.
Libraries play an important role in this direction. A librarian who can be called a library
teacher can also be responsible for motivating students, helping and guiding them, in developing
good reading habits and properly using the library. Thus, the duties of a librarian will not be
restricted to only administrating the library and cataloging and shelving the books. One way
in which the library teachers, besides teachers and other staff of the school, can make their
significant contribution would be to create an environment in the school where the habit of
reading books is inculcated in the students. This can be done through organizing various
activities like reading and writing competitions. The students should not only be able to read,
but read meaningfully, comprehending and analysing what they have read. Lastly, let us hope
that this seminar will throw significant light on and offer useful suggestions for improving the
role of libraries and reading in schools.
Welcome Address 6
3 October 2008
Session 1
Chairperson: Dr. Hriday Kant Dewan
This seminar on school libraries and reading is a part of a series of seminars during which we
intend to develop a dialogue among people who are involved in education: researchers, school
teachers, people working with teachers and textbook writers. In this endeavor, we have been
associated with representatives from various states of the country. The main objective of the
seminar is to take this dialogue beyond the confines of this conference hall and develop it
further. I invite Prof. Krishan Kumar to initiate the discussions in the seminar.
Professor Krishna Kumar
Preliminary Speech
This seminar assumes special importance considering
that matters concerning library movement and reading
have long been ignored. In spite of the
recommendations by various commissions, India has
not been successful in maintaining a library in every
school. The reason behind this perhaps lies in the
school system itself, which does not require the
existence of a library. In this context, this talk would
concentrate on three related issues:
• Relation between lack of a good school library
movement and lack of a systemic necessity
for libraries;
• Problems faced in creating libraries and encouraging reading programmes in our school
system;
• The means – pedagogical, social and technological – in a philosophical sense that can
be used to alter the situation faced today regarding the above.
The importance of efficient libraries and developing reading habits in schools have been
emphasized in various commissions such as the Radha Krishnan, Mudaliar, Kothari, Ram
Murti Commissions and the National Curriculum Framework 2005 of NCERT. However,
well-functioning libraries or situations developing reading are still wanting, not only in most
schools but also in teacher training institutes and colleges. The situation is compelling enough
to question this and argue the need for libraries in educational institutions. This question will
be clear and relevant in a context soon.
Libraries and librarians still find a place in institutional systems both at the national and
regional levels considering that many universities offer Bachelor’s as well as Master’s Degrees
in Library Science. National libraries like the National Library, Calcutta still occupy an
important position, and efforts to develop and run libraries set up by the Central Government
can also be seen. The Raja Ram Mohan Roy Trust which provides funds to regional and non-
government organizations to run libraries is one example.
However, an observation of the ground level of the education system vis-à-vis libraries
should bring to one’s notice the need for libraries in the system. The examination system as it
stands today allows students to pass examinations with high marks. The questions posed do
not necessitate libraries. Students, after passing the higher secondary examination, face a
highly competitive environment where they require very high marks to get admissions to
colleges and institutes. Such a requirement encourages students to rely heavily on rote learning
with no attention paid to the skills of understanding or conceptualization, also thus sacrificing
values of education like honesty. In the urban areas, such a practice has resulted in the setting
up of coaching institutes, which the National Curriculum Framework refers to as ‘School
outside the School’, where students go before or after their school hours, and learn skills
which would be helpful in scoring high marks not only in their school examinations but also
in the entrance examinations for admission to various colleges and institutes after school.
Thus, in the context of such a scenario, it should come as no surprise that there is no good use
of libraries by students or teachers in schools and other institutes.
The examination system, as it stands today, does not provide any scope to determine whether
a child knows how to use a library catalogue or whether he or she has developed any interest
in reading. School report cards show the marks obtained by students in different subjects,
remarks about their character, participation in extra-curricular activities, etc. But one finds
no reflection of their interests in, say, literature, or the number of books they have read.
Besides deliberating on the undesirable conditions of school libraries, this conference should
also focus on ways of developing the need for libraries in our education system. The lack of
the need for good libraries can also find its cause in our culture, which has come to make a
clear distinction between books which are readable and those which are not. Prescribed school
textbooks are considered readable books because they are associated with examinations. Thus,
a good student is considered to be one who reads textbooks, and not other books, and scores
high marks in examinations. This renders books other than textbooks useless and unreadable.
The prejudice of viewing books with suspicion can also be seen, and is related in some ways,
to the case of cinema, literature and poetry. The examination system, the conception of
curricula, and the conception of teacher training are structured around the given textbooks,
which are perceived as being the main source of knowledge. Therefore, other books are not
considered important enough and the time spent on them is often considered time wasted.
This very sharp distinction is also a reflection of the larger culture and social ethos in which
there is a history of deep suspicion in literature and in a child’s aesthetic freedom. It can be
illustrated by looking at how emotions and the treatment of life in poetry and novels have
repeatedly become a target of attack over the last hundred and fifty years or so of modern
history. Many parents feel that cinema spoils a child. However no parent, or educationist for
that matter, feels the need to question what attracts the child so willingly to the cinema to
watch a film, while he gets sent to school only after much coaxing. Pretty much the same can
be said about literature considering that any book, say a novel, would be regarded as an
unreadable book which the child is forced to hide behind a textbook to read. Any question
arising from the child’s knowledge about life outside the realm of textbooks is met with
demotivating responses from the elders to whom the child goes for answers, be it in school, at
home or elsewhere. We also have stereotypes to add to the already dismal picture. Poetry for
example is considered too emotional and sentimental, particularly for boys, to be attracted to
or pursued to lead to any practical or useful achievement.
A reflection of such biases against literary work being emotional and sentimental and hence
undesirable can be found in the event of the Book Burning in Germany in 1930s, in which
under the Nazi rule thousands of books of world literature were burnt as they were felt to
incite human emotions, which were seen as detrimental in making Germany a strong ‘masculine’
nation that could rule other nations. Books were perceived as a source of emotional weakness.
Berlin University has constructed a beautiful underground monument in memory of that
event and the ground has been filled with the names of the books that were burnt and their
authors, including Rabindranath Tagore’s Geetanjali. The event is remembered every year in
Germany with book reading in various places. Parents come with small children and read
books in small groups in parks, restaurants, etc. This incident can be considered as one
answer to the questions regarding the divide of ‘readable’ and ‘unreadable’ books and the
importance placed on giving only readable books to children, barring them from any other
kind of reading.
Like everything else, unfortunately, the realm of books and book reading has also become a
political matter. What kind of books, prescribed textbooks or other books should be selected
and given to children has become a political question. Children are thus neither given a
choice nor are their interests respected. This disrespect towards children, which eventually
reflects disregard towards their individuality, is an issue which needs to be addressed in relation
to such questions.
It does not help our case that emphasis has also been laid more on the philosophy of learning
through direct experience rather than through books. Though the much publicized slogan of
‘learning by doing’ has been initiated in the context of science learning, it has worked to
divert people from knowledge gained through books and focus on learning through direct
personal experiences. Such an attitude towards reading and books encourages a practice of
looking at books or the activity of reading with doubt in a culture where book reading is
already rare.
India has been changing at a very fast pace. It has embarked on various journeys, some of
which will not end in one lifetime and will continue with the coming generations. One such
journey we need to take is the one concerning reading and writing, aiming to make it a part of
our culture, a medium through which a sensitive, tolerant and civilized society can emerge.
As Bharatendu in the beginning of the 19th century writes:
·i·| s·| ¤’-i ·i¤ sl¤- ¬ rl·i¤iº+ ·i·| s·| ¤’-i ·i¤ sl¤- ¬ rl·i¤iº+ ·i·| s·| ¤’-i ·i¤ sl¤- ¬ rl·i¤iº+ ·i·| s·| ¤’-i ·i¤ sl¤- ¬ rl·i¤iº+ ·i·| s·| ¤’-i ·i¤ sl¤- ¬ rl·i¤iº+
That is, the culture of modern education has come, in which Kshtriyas have started wearing
eyeglasses instead of keeping the sword, and using pens in place of daggers. We need to
understand what this line signifies, so that we can understand that if we want libraries to be
essential for our culture, society, education, and school system, we need to move forward
very consciously.
The movement to develop the culture of reading books and setting up libraries has to face
two major problems, essentially because the library is a public space to be used by people
with different views and thoughts. The first problem is concerned with the process of selection
of books. Some important questions which have been given their due in this process are:
– What kind of books should be selected?
– On what basis are these books to be selected?
– Who will be responsible for selecting these books?
– What authority does this person have to select the books?
A committee constituted for selecting of books is responsible for creating and developing a
list of books. In this process, it is a difficult task to reach a collective decision on which
books are good enough for selection from all the available books in the world. It becomes
more difficult when the task has to be carried out within an allocated span of time. Another
problem which arises following the selection of books is the physical space that these books
would occupy. Once the selection and occupation of books have been done, one is faced
with the problem of removing books from the collection that are found to be ill-fitting,
against the risk of criticism and ethical issues.
The process of building up this collection of books into a library becomes more difficult
when faced with the second problem of building a library given the existing situation in the
book market. It is unfortunate that the book industry is often considered the most corrupt
industry. It is not very easy to guess the criteria publishers have for publishing or not publishing
certain books. It is also not very difficult for the common man to get lost in a world of useless
books which are published every year.
Books have been purchased and have come to various schools in many villages through the
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). A look at the libraries of these schools or those of the District
Institutes of Education and Training (DIET) would give an idea of the kinds of books that
have been chosen to be kept in these libraries. An observation of the books would make it
clear that the sole consideration for having chosen such books is their low cost, naturally
entailing a compromise on quality. The functioning of the book industry encourages a situation
where the very efforts that have been made to reduce corruption have been used as a cover
for the purpose. Thus no book which is likely to be of interest to children or teachers is able
to reach our academic institutes, in spite of the funds allocated for the purchase of books.
If we consider the five-year plans of the previous years we find that there has been no five-
year plan without a provision for the purchasing of books. One five year plan included the
provision for purchasing books on large scale under the Operation Black Board, for example,
started under a New Education Policy. However, when the books finally reach the schools,
no proper utilization can be seen to have been carried out in the manner required, thus wasting
the funds and efforts that have gone into such projects.
Thus, even if we have dealt with problems in the evaluation system, teacher’s training
programmes, and the cultural and academic questions regarding the development of the culture
of reading and creating the need for libraries, one question still remains. That is the question
of providing reading materials to schools, materials which reach schools by passing through
an unethical and thus undependable market.
The third issue, which would be dealt with now is that of resources which are necessary to
bring about a change in the scenario presented above. Two kinds of resources will be mainly
focused upon for the present purpose: academic resources and technical resources. Under
academic resources, those resources which can influence the skill of teaching of reading may
be considered the most important. The NCERT has been intensively working in this direction
and has started a Reading Development Cell with the support of grants from the Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan. Through this cell, an attempt has been made to propagate new kinds of skills for
teaching of reading by using new teaching materials including children’s literature, graded
reading series, etc. in many parts of the country. This project has a vision that goes in opposition
to the established culture of reading which views reading as a mechanical skill and is developed
as such. In most government as well as private
schools, it is not uncommon to come across
children rendering (retorting) following like sounds
and sequences:
¬ ¬i l¬ ¬| ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬i l¬ ¬| ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬i l¬ ¬| ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬i l¬ ¬| ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬i l¬ ¬| ¬ ¬ ...
¬ ¬i : : ¬ ¬i : : ¬ ¬i : : ¬ ¬i : : ¬ ¬i : : ...
¬ ¤ ¬ ¬| -i¤i ¬ ¬ ¤ ¬ ¬| -i¤i ¬ ¬ ¤ ¬ ¬| -i¤i ¬ ¬ ¤ ¬ ¬| -i¤i ¬ ¬ ¤ ¬ ¬| -i¤i ¬
n ¤ ¬ ¬| -i¤i n n ¤ ¬ ¬| -i¤i n n ¤ ¬ ¬| -i¤i n n ¤ ¬ ¬| -i¤i n n ¤ ¬ ¬| -i¤i n
Children are encouraged to memorize and
familiarize themselves with the shapes of the
letters, learn the sounds, learn to pronounce them
correctly and make connections between the
shapes and the sounds. This practice of making
children go through rote learning and memorization is not only unscientific from the point of
view of pedagogy but is also unfortunate as it ignores the inherent desire in children to
understand the world, and discourages their thirst for knowledge by providing no motivating
environment or scope for encouraging experiences.
It has been proved by many studies that such frustrating and demotivating experience of
learning to read where the child learns to read words after months of rote learning leads the
child to discontinue coming to school. In cases where the child is unable to read after such
rigorous efforts, the child, and not the school, faces the blame blindly put on them by parents
for not doing so. The situation is worse if the child happens to be a girl child in which case she
would soon be withdrawn from school to be help out in the house or in the fields, or take care
of younger siblings, etc. as she would be considered not brainy enough for school. Such
unfortunate incidents occur mostly in cases of children between classes one to five. It is
often that we would come across children in class five who do not have the ability to read
independently, for which the school is blamed for having the child promoted to class five.
These reasons besides others are responsible for high rates of dropouts and poor retention
capacities that our school children have. Such issues need to be paid adequate attention and
discussed in thr right fora because unless the methods used for teaching and learning to read
are changed during childhood itself, we cannot see the dream of the library becoming a
consolidated part of the school system and the desire for learning in children developed.
Our present education system either prepares examinees or literates but not readers. And this
is also the reason that writings in Indian languages manage to get only 1000 to 2000 copies
sold. In fact, if this number of copies of a novel in Hindi, for example, which is spoken by 47
million people, is sold, it would not be considered a failure. It would be worthwhile to ask in
such a context why our education system in spite of the efforts it puts in is unable to make
readers out of children; why do we not have children who demand for books to read. We need
to know the reason – whether it is the education system or the culture or something else; why
do we have readers in states such as Kerala and West Bengal and not in others, since
comparatively more books are sold in these states than in others.
Many efforts have been made in Kerala to develop the culture of books since the 1930s
resulting in libraries in each village of the state. Many problems, which many Hindi speaking
states are facing presently in this aspect of our culture, can be seen overcome in case of
Kerala. However, one problem which still remains unsolved in this state, as in any other, is
regarding the selection of books. A recent incident where a headmaster was killed and copies
of a textbook were burnt after a quarrel which resulted due to disagreements on the contents
of the textbook in question points to the fact that the state with the highest literacy rate in
the country has not fully developed an educated and tolerant attitude towards the culture of
books. It would have been a more appropriate and civilized act if the views contained in the
book were countered or opposed by writing of another book. And in a democracy it is
ultimately the citizen or the child who decides whether the content of a textbook is worthless
or useful. To snatch away the book and thus the right to decide by not giving an opportunity
to the child to even read the book is reminiscent of the view leading to the event of Book
Burning in Germany discussed earlier.
The second resource that needs to be discussed is that of technical resources. It is not an easy
question to answer whether information and communication technology (ICT) can positively
influence the culture of books or the culture of reading. It has become possible through this
technology for people in various towns and villages to have access to knowledge which they
were previously deprived of due to lack of books. This has opened a window to a whole new
world which was out of reach till some time ago. However, similar problems and difficulties
that we have seen in selecting and purchasing books apply in the case of the Internet as well.
As in the case of books, the market of the Internet, too, is not completely an ethically organized
one. All types of information is available on the Internet. There are a large number of
misguided youth in the world who are obtaining education from a university through the
Internet. The Internet is also used as an escape in some way or the other by lakhs of disappointed
and disturbed people. And the use of the internet as a medium within the school culture for
learning reading and writing and creating a tolerant and peaceful space does not guarantee a
situation where students would have the right to decide what is worth reading and what is
not, even in cases where the ability to make such decisions has been developed in them.
The second issue which faces us regarding the substitution of books by ICT is the availability
of ICT in providing quick and ready answers to the curiosity and doubts aroused by books. It
is important to ask: what if in the future ICT completely substitutes books and we do not
have an environment consisting of books. Can we expect an environment where a child
would not get disappointed when he or she does not find an answer to questions immediately
and easily, and would she make earnest efforts for finding answers over a long period of time
by researching on the topic, read widely about various things and ultimately develop an
understanding of what she is looking for. It is the question of one of the most important
values of education, which is the ability to be happy in uncertainty.
Another important aspect is the question of time management in the culture associated with
ICT. Time management is as difficult a task in the context of ICT as space management is in
developing traditional libraries. Though this new technology has taken care of the problems
concerning the creation of space, it has given rise to the problem of management of time
which ultimately is related to patience. People seek immediate answers to their questions and
get easily impatient and disappointed when they do not get one. For example, an immediate
response to an email is expected by the sender assuming that the receiver should need only
that much time to read, understand and reply as the sender had taken in sending the email.
Email is only one function of the Internet. However it represents a cultural and psychological
structure. By reducing the importance of space, technology has created a demand for an
extraordinary level of patience. A technology which leaves no time at all for response often
creates a culture of impatience in society. And since it is yet very early in the era of the
development of ICT, it is difficult to guess and learn in what manner the new technology
with shape social relationships, the life of institutions and so on. And while we are learning
that, it would be somewhat unwise to think that the money which could have been spent on
creating a private good happy space for quiet reading in a private sense for children can be
utilized in a better way by just putting two monitors and providing access to the net. This
kind of quick substitution in policy or financial expenditure, one feels, would be quite
misplaced, because it is not clear at all whether a culture based on books and libraries is in
fact in conflict with ICT; in all likelihood it is not. And in more developed countries we see
certain programmes where we can see the two working together. But in our kind of economy,
we often think one as
pitched against the
other. These are
complicated issues and
a solution is not easy to
find. This kind of
conference, one being
on books and libraries,
is a suitable platform to
initiate and carry
forward discussions
dealing on these issues
and raise important and
relevant questions.
3 October 2008
Session 2
Group Work
3 October 2008
Session 3
Chairperson: Dr. Hriday Kant Dewan
Speakers: Professor Vijaya S. Varma and Dr. Terry Varma
Professor Vijaya S. Varma
In the early 1970s, when the science-
teaching group of Hoshangabad was active,
there was a series of seminars on Physics
education that had been organized by
Hungarian Physicist George Marx. These
were called the Balaton Conferences,
named after Balaton, the largest lake in
Hungary and were held once every two
years. What was special about these
conferences, unlike many other academic
conferences, was that people from different
educational institutes were invited. There
were school teachers, university professors,
people working in research institutes, and even people working in various industries from
various countries such as the USA, India, China, Japan, Korea, and countries in Europe and
South America gathering to talk about Physics education.
For many years I tried to persuade my friends in Eklavya, to organize such seminars in India,
even suggesting that they should call it the Narmada Seminars. It is reassuring to see that Dr.
Hriday Kant Deewan has taken up the challenge of organizing such kinds of seminars in
Vidya Bhawan and he has almost established a tradition of doing so. This present seminar on
library and reading is the fourth seminar of this kind that Vidya Bhawan has organized in the
last five years. In fact, one can consider calling these seminars the Vidya Bhawan Seminars or
the Fateh Sagar Seminars.
The structure of my talk today is briefly, as below:
We start with a recounting of our individual experiences of libraries. This will be followed by
a brief summary of the results of researches from literature. One cannot deny the usefulness
of the Internet in such research and in this context the use of ICT in educational practices
these days would be dwelt upon. Summing up the talk, the features of a quality school library
programme would be noted and tied up with the recommendations of the National Knowledge
Commission as it is the latest commission on education, and whether or not it will have a
greater impact on the education scene in India, as compared to the previous commissions
that Prof. Krishna Kumar mentioned such as the Kothari commission, Ram Murti commission,
and the Radhakrishnan commission.
After this preliminary introduction, the experiences of the authors with libraries follow.
(The first account of experience is that of Dr. Terry Verma. The first person hereafter refers to her until
indicated otherwise later.)
The experience to be recounted here is the one with High School Libraries in American
Embassy School which is an international school located in Delhi. When I worked in the
High School – I have been retired for four years now – I taught French at the advanced level
to Classes X, XI and XII, and theory of knowledge to Classes XI and XII. I also supervised
extended essays of students who were preparing for the International Baccalaureate Diploma.
The most important role of our school library was to support and enhance the goals of the
school’s education programme, and this is what would be focused on in this part of the talk.
This issue touches upon some of the issues raised by Prof. Krishna Kumar during his preliminary
talk. Before talking specifically about my experiences as a teacher in the school, I would like
to mention how much pleasure the library gave me at a personal level. Reading is a pleasurable
activity for many and a demonstrated way to unwind and relax. In fact, as Steven Krashen,
the renowned reading specialist and promoter of recreational reading, said, “Self selected
voluntary reading is so pleasant, that readers report being addicted to it”. He then goes on to
cite some lines from Somerset Maugham, which he found quoted in a book by Nell, in which
Maugham says, “Conversation after a time bores me, games tire me, and my own thoughts,
which we are told are the unfailing resource of a sensible man, have a tendency to run dry.
Then I fly to my book as the opium smoker to his pipe”. Clearly, the words of what you would
call a reading addict. At a personal level, the library also enabled me to pursue and develop an
interest in art and painting, which has made a lasting contribution to my life.
This aspect refers to personal enrichment. It should be added that these are not, by the way,
beneficial aspects of the library, but are aspects which are integral to the school’s goal of
furthering the well being of the school community and helping them to become life long
learners.
The class on the theory of knowledge in the American Embassy School is a discussion based
class: a time for reflection on the students’ experiences of various school subjects and other
sources and varieties of knowledge in an epistemological framework at a very basic level.
The course forms a requirement for every student taking the International Baccalaureate (IB)
Diploma. When the school started this program for various educational reasons, the library
was a key element in the organization of these courses. The students are not required to do a
great deal of reading for that course, but the teachers need to. And as a teacher of the new
and rather unique course for which there was no specific educational background besides
curiosity and love of thinking and ideas, one obviously needed to educate oneself.
The librarian, who is treated on par with teachers, helped me to locate materials in our library.
She searched for book reviews and databases, contacted other IB schools to find out about
their collections and suggestions. We then built up a resource base for the teachers of the
course on the theory of knowledge. The students needed to prepare oral projects for the class
for which I would provide a list of possible broad topics within which the students would be
able to choose more focused topics. They would then go to the librarian to discuss what
would be feasible and most fruitful given the resources we had.
Once the broad category was chosen, the media for example, the students worked in pairs on
a topic of their choice of current relevance in the media and tried to apply the theory of
knowledge and understanding to the issue. Here, the librarian guided the students to resources
of all kinds, including websites, databases, DVDs and so on. During this oral preparation
period, I used to take my classes in the library for a couple of periods every week for students
to work in pairs, where they also viewed the DVDs and used the internet. The library was
used so much that space as well as computers had to be booked well in advance.
As the work progressed, the library staff guided and presented the students with information
on plagiarism policies – ways to make citations and the recognition of the most reliable
sources of information. The library was clearly helping us meet the IB requirements, but it
was also serving the wider school goal of developing information literacy in the students. So
the question of how one develops the ability to select what is reliable and what is not reliable,
is part of the process of acquiring and sifting through data.
My experience with French classes and guiding extended essays was similar. French reading
materials were part of my classroom library and stored in the classroom. Still, the school
library was an important element, when it came to the foreign language curriculum goal of
developing in the students a knowledge and appreciation of French culture. At levels I, II and
III in the high school, each unit studied had a cultural component. Let us consider, for example,
the topic was Normandy, which is a region in France, and the students would then be given
some questions and a list of websites to consult and find the answers. They completed that
during the time allotted to a class, using library computers and working in pairs. This was also
a chance to use authentic cultural materials accompanied by plenty of visual information,
and to learn using an approach different from other activities given in the textbook. The point
being that the library is to be seen not only as a collection of books, but as a variety of
resources. The use of a school library is not only to develop reading skills, but also skills
related to the use of Information Technology (IT), being able to search for information,
distinguish what is reliable information, what is not reliable information and so on.
(In the following account of experiences the first person now refers to Professor Vijaya S. Varma.)
My experiences were in a sense much more limited. I went to school in Patna in the 1950s,
and my school had a decent library catering mainly to middle and high school. We were given
access from Class VI onwards. Although the hours of opening were restricted, we had free
access to its holdings which consisted mainly of books whenever the library was open. The
library consisted of mainly of books in English and smaller collections in Hindi, Urdu and
Bangla as there were students in the school who had these languages as their mother tongue.
Very quickly I became an avid reader in English, for a variety of reasons, which will be
explained shortly. First, there were many more books in English than in the other languages
and many of these books were very attractive to me as a young boy. There were books full of
adventure, books on humor, travel etc. These books were very clearly printed, easy to read
and usually had nice illustrations. In fact, the lack of illustrations in a book was a disappointment.
The school also encouraged the reading habit by requiring all its students to submit book
reports on the first day of every month. So whether one liked the practice or not, one had to
read at least one book every month and write a report on it. The report had to have the
summary of what was read with main points and important characters, and why they were
thought to be important. The report was required to be about four pages for each book read.
I became an avid reader in English due to the availability of good materials in English, and
my interest in reading books developed not only on my own but also the encouragement by
the school.
It is interesting that this interest in books did not extend to books written in Hindi, and the
reasons again were many. The Hindi books were not as attractively produced as the English
ones: there were hardly any illustrations, the fonts were very difficult to read, and the school
did not ask for book reports in Hindi. Also, the Hindi teacher was a monster whose only
teaching aid was either a twist of the ears or a slap across the face, and these he employed
very freely and without prejudice. The result is that even today, unfortunately, it is a struggle
for me to read books in Hindi, which is often a very severe handicap.
The point that can be noted here is that reading habits are established when one is young and
in school. It is a habit, which is difficult to inculcate later. Another experience is not directly
connected to the school library, and this was when I became a teacher in University. Though
the advantages of open access in attracting students to use school libraries cannot be denied,
and the collection tends to become more valuable as we come to higher classes, one may
have to affect a compromise on providing open access to the more valuable holdings,
particularly in our country where the culture of library usage is yet to find its base. This issue
should be taken into account while talking about the prevalent culture of library usage in our
country. In an incident when I was a young lecturer in Department of Physics, a senior professor
in the Department thought of encouraging the students to read the original sources when
studying important concepts in class. After this idea was implemented, the next day in the
department witnessed uproar as it was found that some pages from the journal of the Physical
Review, which he had referred his students to, were found to have been torn out. The net
result was that the experiment came to an end forthwith. And it might not be too wrong to
suspect that the students responsible for the misdoing perhaps came from schools which did
not have school libraries. This is not an incident in isolation; it is evident to any member of
the British Council Library, at least in Delhi – many books on Art or those with good illustrations
have their pages either torn out or missing.
Let us now look at the research findings in the literature. Central to these findings is the
definition of what is called a quality library. A quality school library is defined in the research
literature as one in which the school librarian is a trained professional, which provides open
access to all resources to all students during, before and after school hours, possesses a
multiplicity and a variety of good resources, and has a large and varied collection of quality
books in its collection.
The International Reading Association recommends that there should be between fifteen to
twenty quality books in a library per student, with quality books being defined as books
which are accurate, attractive, multicultural and plural in their approach, which addresses the
question of which books you select and are easy to read. In addition, the International Reading
Association also recommends that the average age of the books in the collection should not
exceed 10 years. So, all libraries should have an in built mechanism of getting rid of part of its
collection which is either found not useful, or is out of date, or is not being consulted by
students. Each such quality library should have a network of at least twelve, which is the
minimum requirement, functioning computers with broadband access to start off the
functioning of a good library. These requirements need to be kept in mind when we discuss
the research findings below.
Many research studies have demonstrated a positive correlation between a quality library
programme, quality library being defined as above, and the academic performance of the
students, not just in reading skills but the total academic performance of the students in the
school. The correlation extends to reading levels at all ages. So it is not just young kids but
also growing children in school having a quality education program which means that they
remain interested in reading.
There are studies by Hamilton Panel and his group which maintain that this correlation between
good performance and a quality library holds whatever be the social or economic backgrounds
of the children, thus cutting across the economic divide. So, a good library will always benefit
the students whether they belong to a rich community or a poor community, a good library
being defined as one which is integrated with the curriculum and the teaching that is going on
in the school and in which the librarian is considered as an important part of the school, set
up as the teachers are. In fact, studies by Hoffenberg and Clarke carried out in the United
States have shown that children in high poverty schools get the most benefit from being in a
school with a quality school library programme.
Alley claims to have shown that students from less developed countries in a school with a
good quality library achieved test scores which are closer on the average to those of students
from developed countries. So, the average performance of students in a school blessed with
a quality library in an underdeveloped country will be comparable to the performance of
students in more developed countries. These points should be pondered upon deeply during
this seminar on schools libraries.
So far we have seen that there is a positive correlation between the existence of a quality
library and academic performance across class, age, and economic status. With regards to the
question of equity, children from high poverty schools tend to benefit the most from the
quality libraries than students in rich schools.
The message thus seems to be that investing in a good library is investing in the development
of any kind of school. To summarize, the central message of this presentation is that a school
library makes a difference. It helps the school to achieve its educational and individual subject
curriculum goals. Now this creates something of a chicken and egg situation. Which comes
first? Does a good library come first or does a good school with an integrated programme
come first? But it is not hard to see that without the curricular goals, one does not need a
library, as Prof. Krishna Kumar pointed out in his talk. However, one may need a good library
even to be able to propose good curricular goals. So, one can assume that a good library
comes first.
The library also contributes to the personal well-being, enrichment and learning of students.
Better libraries lead to a better academic performance. They enable a higher quality of
educational programme and the development of information literacy; information literacy
being the ability to use the Internet to search for the kind of information that we have been
talking about. School libraries are recognized means to ensure greater equity and access to
resources among the students. They help to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor as
far as the academic achievement is concerned. In fact the benefit to the poorer students is the
most as these students have the least access to quality resources at home.
Recognizing the role of libraries in empowerment of the masses, the National Knowledge
Commission set up by the Government of India observes that every school and every village
should have a library by the year 2020 in its vision that it articulates for school libraries in
India. The vision says ensuring, inclusion, outreach and equity will mean open access availability
of literature in local languages. So, first of all, for open access the literature in local languages
to which you wish to give children access has to be created. The aim, which is clearly stated,
is that all libraries will be a part of a national network when they are computerized and IT
application is promoted.
Now, if these ideals are taken together, greater internet facilities in Hindi and other Indian
languages have to be developed. In order to achieve this, our fonts have to be standardized
on Unicode. But more importantly, the government must put its effort in developing Optical
Character Recognition (OCR) for Hindi and other regional languages. At the moment, unless
we key in a text in Hindi or regional languages, all other forms are images that are stored in
the memory of the computer. One can still get a lot of information that way. However, the
difference between storing it as an image and storing text is that one cannot run search
engines on images. If they are stored as texts, search engines can operate on them and this
makes it easier to locate the information. This can be done by private companies like Microsoft
Corporation as it might be financially beneficial for them to develop a Hindi OCR. At the
same time, the claims of the Government and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing
(CDAC) being on the verge of producing OCRs in Hindi should now fulfill their promise.
Quality libraries will need professional trained library staff that is able to work with teachers
to integrate the library with the academic programs of the school and develop a set of clearly
articulated curricular goals. More computers will be needed if they are to be networked
including broadband access. The commission recommends, in addition, that the facilities in a
library should include comfortable sitting spaces, web browsing cafeterias and multi media
centers. They should have good physical facilities and a pleasant ambiance to attract users.
One might be skeptical of the likelihood of the realization of such a vision, particularly if we
bear in mind the fate of recommendations of numerous commissions in past. To quote a
poem that was quoted by Rohit Dhankar in a different context in one of the earlier seminars
of the series:
¬i : ¬--|( (º ·r| ¬in| ¬i : ¬--|( (º ·r| ¬in| ¬i : ¬--|( (º ·r| ¬in| ¬i : ¬--|( (º ·r| ¬in| ¬i : ¬--|( (º ·r| ¬in|
¬i : ¬ ºn ·¬ º ·r| ¬in|+ ¬i : ¬ ºn ·¬ º ·r| ¬in|+ ¬i : ¬ ºn ·¬ º ·r| ¬in|+ ¬i : ¬ ºn ·¬ º ·r| ¬in|+ ¬i : ¬ ºn ·¬ º ·r| ¬in|+
r- ¬in| ·i| ¬·i| ri¬÷¤÷l(¬ ¤º r ¬| r- ¬in| ·i| ¬·i| ri¬÷¤÷l(¬ ¤º r ¬| r- ¬in| ·i| ¬·i| ri¬÷¤÷l(¬ ¤º r ¬| r- ¬in| ·i| ¬·i| ri¬÷¤÷l(¬ ¤º r ¬| r- ¬in| ·i| ¬·i| ri¬÷¤÷l(¬ ¤º r ¬|
¬( l¬¬| (in ¤º ·r| ¬in|+ ¬( l¬¬| (in ¤º ·r| ¬in|+ ¬( l¬¬| (in ¤º ·r| ¬in|+ ¬( l¬¬| (in ¤º ·r| ¬in|+ ¬( l¬¬| (in ¤º ·r| ¬in|+
And to quote his translation: ‘No hope now reaches fruition, nor is there any way out. Once
I used to laugh easily at the preoccupations of the heart, now there is nothing that induces
lightheartedness in me’.
One would like to suggest that the situation is not so bleak. Many have become cynical about
what the Government promises and what we are able to deliver. However, we feel that there
is still room for lightheartedness.
To conclude this presentation, let me present an anecdote which shall explain why there is
hope of something coming through the IT revolution. In 1962, I went to England to pursue a
PhD in theoretical Physics, which incidentally took 5 years to complete. During that entire
period, it was too expensive to talk to relatives in India and the state of communication in
those days was such that a letter written and sent even by Airmail would take a month to get
a reply. So after some time, we just stopped writing letters. In contrast, the other day on our
way to Udaipur in the train, we could chat with our daughter-in-law who is in the United
States. On knowing that, she exclaimed, “Wow! A hi-fi train in India!” I told her that I was
using a laptop with a data card, to which her response was, “Wow! A hi-fi father-in-law in
India!”
Dr. Hriday Kant Dewan
We have had two very interesting presentations which have shown some important dimensions
of the issues regarding reading and the library. One dimension shows that for school libraries
to function well, the culture of reading should be developed in schools and outside. For this
purpose, we need to make necessary changes not only in the school curriculum but also in the
system of education and evaluation of the students.
The second dimension points to the question of choice that readers should have in choosing
what they want to read. Each reader should have access to space and all available knowledge
and thought. We cannot try to control the freedom to choose and decide what children or
adults will read. This links to the fact that since the choices are to be made in the library and
one cannot find all the books in the library, the question of the need for quality books, which
the previous speakers have talked about, arises. So, what is a quality book is an issue which
we need to think about and discuss.
Prof. Krishna Kumar, in his talk, pointed out some obvious misjudgments that are likely to
happen when we literally judge a book by its cover. Whatever be the preferences, low priced
books or high priced books, price certainly is an issue that we need to consider in situations
that prevail in the Indian education system. In
this context, we need to reflect on ways to make
the right judgments and choices. Another issue,
which Prof. Kumar pointed out in this regard,
is the suspicion in the minds of the people who
are given the responsibilities of making choices.
There are many states, which have gone through
the elaborate procedures of collecting and
selecting materials. This process takes months
and in many cases once the list is finalized and
ready for orders and supply of the books to
schools, it has to be discarded for some reasons,
some of which have been hinted at in Prof. Kumar’s talk. It is a sad fact that one of the
biggest reasons happens to be that publication is one of the most corrupt businesses that we
have and the situation has worsened particularly since the Government has decided to invest
a lot of money in school and public libraries.
Another dimension that we have seen is the advantage that a school gets if it provides a good
functional library. This has been pointed out in Prof. Vijaya S. Varma’s and Dr. Terry Varma’s
talk about their experiences in their respective institutions on how functioning with a good
library contributes to the emotional, social and capacity development in the students.
In this respect we need to consider a way in which a decentralized local initiative driven
programme can be initiated if the system is not able to provide a library as an institution to a
school. Alternative ways of setting up libraries and making them function should also be
considered rather than looking at it as a responsibility of the Government and the system,
Lastly, one should not forget that one of the purposes of reading, which has also been pointed
out by Prof. Kumar, is to read for joy. This requires acceptance of a culture where a child gets
time to read when they want to read. Hopefully, reading books, in the future, will not be
viewed as a wasteful activity and will be encouraged. Because literature builds societies and
develops a wider understanding of the world not only through one’s own experiences but also
through the experiences of others. Thus reading is not just an issue related to a curriculum
but also to learning about the human society and developing the ability to think about and
analyze what we have read.
3 October 2008
Session 4
Chairperson: Prof. Krishna Kumar
Speaker: Dr. S. Majumdar Chief Librarian, Delhi University Library System
Yashpal and Shehnaz: Vidya Bhawan Education Resource Center, Udaipur
Prof. Krishna Kumar
This afternoon session comprises three presentations. The first presentation is on virtual
school libraries by Mr. Majumdar, the Chief Librarian, University of Delhi Central Library
System. This is followed by a presentation by Vidya Bhawan on running of school libraries.
The third presentation is from SCERT Chattisgarh, about their experience of promoting
libraries and reading.
Dr. S. Majumdar
This talk should not be interpreted as advocating the virtual library and the demise of the
spatial library. The spatial library will continue to exist as it is, precisely because when we talk
about a virtual library we talk about information technology, information which can be obtained
from the internet and not about books and reading habits. Of course, synthesizing and
conceptualizing information to be in the knowledge domain is still the responsibility of the
user who seeks that information. Therefore, this talk can be seen as advocating a hybrid
library system where the spatial environment with print resources co-exists with access to
various other flourishing resources, whether from a commercial point of view or in the public
domain. This presentation will look at such an experiment conducted over a period of three
years.
We expect children to go through the teaching and learning process and provide them with
textbooks and other books, and now with information technology. Motivating students is an
important aspect of these processes and these materials are intended to motivate the students
to read them. Perhaps information technology, rather the ICT, presenting everything in a
multimedia environment, expands the horizon of teaching and learning process from the
environment of textbooks to another environment.
One can say that reading habits are developed by a combination of course reading as well as
recreational reading, which is also very important. Unlike the previous generation where
technology was used very rarely, this generation’s libraries are trying to prepare for the future
where technology is going to be one of the most predominant factors in the process of
teaching and learning. Students are going to be much closer to the technological environment
than the spatial environment of the library. In such a situation, accessibility to the library
should be provided in such a way that students are motivated to use both course materials as
well as recreational materials. It is important, then, to simultaneously inculcate the habit of
using technology.
Also, the development of communication media will make it possible to have such an
environment not only in schools in towns and cities but also in rural parts of the country. An
important issue is the inculcation of the habit of utilizing technology in a way that is required
for students to be able to understand the difference between conventional reading tools and
technological reading tools.
We have heard during Prof. Krishna Kumar’s talk an example of the conventional tool of
education which is a drill oriented learning process where children learn sounds by matching
the shapes of the alphabets – shapes such as ¬i l¬ ¬| ¬ ¬ ¬ and matching them to their
respective sounds. Things have been changing very fast and technological tools are being
adopted by students in an attempt to become technology-oriented citizens of the future. In
this regard, a librarian in a conventional library, small or big depending on resources, can
make his or her help available to the students. It is this help that is the conventional way of
handling the library services. However, the need of the hour in an environment with
technological tools is to motivate students to utilize such an environment. The librarian in
such an environment has to be dynamic to know what students are trying to learn and achieve
in order to help them in the best possible way.
For such a situation to develop a well-researched virtual library is needed. Unfortunately, in
India, libraries are not on the priority list as far as the national index or a national perspective
is concerned. In fact they are not even on the state’s priority list. This is one of the reasons
why many libraries have been facing a financial crunch. In such a situation, a virtual environment
of the library can be created for the students, and through research and experiments attempts
should be made to provide them with useful resources.
Some of the resources and processes involved in the experiment which I had conducted will
be presented shortly. One of the greatest advantages of technology is that resources can be
simultaneously utilized for multiple purposes. These technological tools need to be made
available and system analysts or people who are competent in using these tools can provide
the necessary help. In spite of the financial crunch, a kind of environment for the optimal use
of ICT has to be built in order to make a virtual library. Such a virtual library can be tapped
through the public domain resources available in open access environment on the Internet.
These recourses have to be exploited and made useful to the students.
One important development is the availability of the resources for the kids and the young in
virtual environments such as virtual schools, entertainment media and wikis. For example, a
school in Mysore has developed a website which has a virtual library. Another example is the
open access International Children Digital Library which is a virtual children’s library consisting
of literary books, entertainment books, textbooks and many other facilities. The Worldwide
School Library has Literature, History, Geography, Social Science, Astronomy, Botany, etc. in
many languages, though predominantly in English. Children Storybook Online is another
website which has storybooks in the form of text documents for young children, older children,
and young adults.
All these resources can be made available by downloading to any computer, as we have done
at the Delhi University Central Library System, or by creating links to these websites. This
not only gives an easy access but also a speedy one to these resources. Audio books that are
abundantly available on the Internet are useful for the visually challenged students. They can
listen to the complete document if access is provided.
The American Library Association has developed a website for children which provides access
to information related to Arts, History, Geography, Language, Literature, Science,
Mathematics, Computers, etc. Many websites provide information on the animal kingdom.
Websites like The Animal Corner give detailed information, for example, on various kinds of
animals.
All these resources are available in the public domain and do not involve spending huge
amount of money. They present a great opportunity to create technological environments
and set up virtual libraries in our library systems. In this context, a librarian should be isolated
from the education system. He needs to play an important role in educating students by
helping them identify useful resources and explore the information available. For this the
librarian should be dynamic and have an analytical mind. The laxity in the traditional
environment can thus be complemented by the technological environment. This will not only
handle the financial crunch but also give access to the large body of information available on
the Internet.
Presentation by the representatives of Vidya Bhawan
Yashpal
In this presentation I would like to share my experiences of the mobile library run by the
Vidya Bhawan Education Resource Center (VBERC). One of the main reasons for children
not developing a reading habit is that they do not have access to meaningful reading materials
around them. It can be very well claimed in the context of India that other than textbooks,
children do not get much meaningful learning or reading materials. Often these textbooks are
also not found to be interesting enough to motivate children to read. In addition, certain rules
of using the textbooks are assumed, such as, starting to read from the first chapter and not
from the middle. There are also problems regarding the quality of the books: poor printing
quality and low quality of the paper used. All these factors create disinterest among children
towards reading.
One way of creating an interest in reading among children would be to provide interesting
reading materials in different varieties. VBERC has been involved in working for quality
education for the last fourteen years. In this context, we have been working with twelve
schools in Hazira industrial area of Gujarat. Activity centers have been set up in this area and
children are provided libraries with such materials that can arouse interest in them. Some
local instructors are also trained to work with the children. This experiment was found to be
successful and similar experiments have been started in Udaipur.
Towards this aim, VBERC has been running a mobile library since 2005 in the slum areas of
Udaipur. These areas were selected particularly because children from these areas do not
have access to any reading material other than the textbooks. The actual work was preceded
by a socioeconomic survey, which gave us an estimate of the number of children residing in
that particular area. A space was then designated which could be utilized as a library and the
rest followed. A van was arranged in which books could be kept and taken to the children. In
order to sensitize them to the nature of the books, which are not the same as textbooks,
several activities were planned and carried out. This also helped in building a meaningful
relationship with the children. Since children get attracted to games easily, materials like
carom-boards, snakes & ladders, chinese-checkers, etc. were also kept along with the books.
Working in these areas was challenging as one had to bear in mind a situation where children
did not come to us nor did they go to school. They were accompanied by their parents,
siblings and other very young children. We accordingly planned and divided the children into
groups. Each group had a leader who was given few responsibilities of the library. After a
point of time, the number of children as well as the others who used to accompany them
started decreasing gradually. We realized that this was because we had not been able to get
our message across and they had been looking for some material benefit in the form of
charity which they would sometimes find distributed in their community. They realized that
they were not getting anything material from us other than an environment of books.
In these areas it was also found that only some children attend school, and these are the ones
who do not accompany their parents in begging or any other work. We accordingly kept the
time of the library in the evening from 4 PM to 8 PM or till daylight remained. It then becomes
too late to approach and talk to the parents. Following this, however, we approach primary
school teachers and some others in the area who could talk to us and informed them about
the mobile library. They were explained the advantages of linking it with school work and the
benefits resulting from it.
This move improved the condition to a lot. Children started taking interest – issuing books
and then returning them too. It was a new experience for them that they were getting books
other than textbooks to take home and read. The environment, unlike school, was very informal;
they could explore the books in their own way without being asked questions on what they
have read. And above all, they can learn without the fear of examination. This created an
enthusiasm for reading among the children.
The other question we faced was the question of selection of books: what kind of books in
children’s literature will they find interesting. For this purpose we wrote to the children about
the kind of books they would like to read. We also had a scholar visiting Vidya Bhawan
suggesting appropriate books that we could keep in the library for these children. In this way,
we developed a collection of around 2000 to 2500 books and started taking them to the
children.
Initially, during the pilot phase, we introduced the mobile library and worked in two slum
areas. When the experiment in these two areas was found to be successful, we extended the
concept and started the mobile library in two more slum areas. We now work in four slum
areas. There are 30 to 40 children who come to the library regularly. Some come only to play
and some read during these hours but almost all of them issue and books to take home.
Shehnaz
It has been the effort of Vidya Bhawan that if children do not go to the libraries, the libraries
should be taken to them. Similar to the experiment with the mobile library which has been
presented by Yashpal, this part of the presentation will describe my personal experiences of
working on a classroom library in the Vidya Bhawan Basic School.
Based on Gandhian Philosophy the Basic school was established in 1941. Here, along with
their studies, students participate in various other different activities. Earlier, these activities
included agriculture, weaving, knitting, cutting etc. Carpentry, stitching and food processing
were later added to these activities. Primary class, the grade I teach, is given gardening and
mud toy making lessons. The objective of these activities is to make children understand the
importance of learning and relate it with education.
Students in this school come from lower middle class or middle class families of nearby
villages where even fulfilling the children’s basic needs is a difficult task for the parents. As is
the case with other places in India, the main emphasis is placed on securing high marks,
which is associated with reading only the prescribed textbooks. In this way, children are
deprived of reading any other book.
The idea of a classroom library occurred to me in 2005 when I was teaching Class IV students
and facing some problems in working with the children. The children in that class had the
knowledge of letters, but they were not able to read the text. Many children could pronounce
words, but they could not get the meaning of the words. To overcome this problem, I felt it
necessary to give them access to more and more books outside of their textbooks. Neither
had they seen any other book, nor was there any possibility of having any other book in their
homes. They also were not exposed to the library of the school as access to the library is not
available to students of the primary classes. So I thought of ways to improve their reading
and reading habits. When I talked to the librarian about the problem I was told that the old
editions of Chak-mak and child science magazines could be useful. When these books were
taken to the children in the classroom, they jumped at the opportunity of getting acquainted
with books besides their textbooks. It was a touching experience to see that children have
such a strong urge for reading, but hardly anything is done about this. Instead of indulging
them we are depriving them of books. We do not realize how reading to memorize can create
disinterest in reading among children. When I saw the excitement of the children when they
were given the books, I thought it is wise to make the situation useful. So, some books were
kept on a table in the corner of the classroom and children were provided three reading
periods a week. Along with that, the students were given the freedom to use the books in
whatever way they felt after they had finished their class work and had some free time. They
could draw pictures, or indulge in activities with the books in the classroom.
However, one problem which arose along with this positive sign was the question of proper
care of books. It was found that the increased use of the books also led to pages being torn
out, and some books even went missing. Some of the books were taken home by the children
and were not returned. The result was that the number of books decreased day by day and
only half of the books remained after some time.
In the next session these children got promoted to Class V and I was again in charge of the
class library. When I again started working with these children in Class V, I came to know that
when children got the books some children only see the pictures and keep aside the book and
some read the books partly but some could not understand anything. However, they discussed
the pictures they saw in the books. They probably did not read the story, but they started
making up their own stories and would discuss them. There were also children who could
read a story and understand it and their reading speed had also gradually increased. Many of
them were now able to read complete stories. But unfortunately, some could not read beyond
small stories or poems with 3 to 4 lines. Their inability to read more might also be a reason for
getting fed up with the books soon thus not attempting further to read.
Since only Chak-mak was provided their interest soon started fading. So, a need was felt for
more variety of books. Though the school library has lots of books in children’s literature, no
suitable books for children of primary classes was found. With the help of the librarian we
got more books which would cater to different needs of the children. Again, the enthusiasm
of the children was restored. However, the children still needed to be trained to take proper
care of the books. It was essential to make them understand that they have to take care of
books as these books are for their purpose. If they could not complete reading a story during
the class hour they could issue the book for a week. Parents also found it advantageous to
have such a library. Children were not allowed to issue new books if they did not deposit the
previous ones in proper condition. They were otherwise told to read the books in the classroom.
As a result, children became more careful and they started returning books back to the school
in time.
In this way children finished reading all the books within 2 to 3 months. Their enthusiasm and
curiosity grew and they soon demanded more new books. But on the other side children’s
curiosity was getting increased. They waited for the period of class library with new sets of
books. Unfortunately, I did not have any such source to constantly renew the library. Therefore,
only some books of whatever books I had in my disposal were taken to the classroom at a
time in order to maintain their enthusiasm and curiosity.
Reports of the library classroom with the support of the Principal of the school and the
librarian were sent to the Vidya Bhawan and other voluntary organizations to seek help in
this matter. We are thankful for the funds that resulted in a response that has encourahed this
effort.
At present, we have about 250 to 300 books in the classroom library. It was easier for the
children to select books of their interest from the variety of books kept in the classroom. The
environment gave them the freedom to choose and also read the way they liked without being
watched or criticized or evaluated; it helped them in improving their reading skills. They read
on their own for pleasure and in the process improved themselves. It was found that those
children who were not able to read more than two or three lines in a paragraph two months
earlier were now able to read complete passages at their own speed. The effect of reading
with interest that they developed in this class was clearly visible in their performance in
understanding in other subjects as well.
To assess this understanding, the research forum thought of conducting a study on the matter.
Accordingly, I gave a cloze test in Hindi and a paper of statement sums in Mathematics to the
children. In the cloze test children were given a previously unseen paragraph and asked to
read and fill in the blanks in the paragraph on the basis of their understanding. It was expected
that the child would be able to fill in the blank, only if he could understand the paragraph.
Then the correlation between marks obtained by the students in the tests and the number of
books they have read was analysed. A positive correlation between the two was found which
points to the fact that reading skills of children have improved. In the Mathematics paper,
they understood the problem though they solved it incorrectly.
The classroom library is a very important factor, at least in the primary classes, in improving
reading and reading habits in students. Reading habits cannot be improved by rote learning of
the textbooks but they can be improved by reading with interest. It seems that writing ability
also gets affected by reading. For example, when children started reading different words in
different contexts, they learnt to use them in different sentences and express their thoughts
better in a paragraph. Since classroom libraries have had good effects on reading and writing
skills of the children. I hope they would be continued. Children would be able to expand their
curriculum on their own with little help from the teachers.
Mr. Shastri, SCERT Raipur
This presentation focuses on the two main issues:
– Development of a school library
– Developing interest towards reading in parents and community.
Before we consider the role of librarians, we need to be interested in reading books. In this
context, we need to think about how we can develop an interest towards reading in children.
In this era of Physical sciences, television, computers and audio-video technology, children
are gradually moving away from books. One reason for this trend is that parents or the older
generation does not make an attempt to instill an interest in reading in children. For example,
children see elders watching television more than reading books. So, it is very important to
make meaningful efforts towards creating an interest in reading among children and thereby
bring about a revolutionary change in the current scenario.
One example which can be considered as a step in this direction is the celebration of the
World Literacy Day on September 8 as the Book Reading Day in Chattisgarh. Since 2007, due
to the efforts of the Secretary, School Education Department, Chattisgarh, Shri Nand Kumar,
the event is celebrated for a week and has proved to be a huge success. The total population
of Chattisgarh is about 2,10,00000. The Limca Book of World Records recorded that 81 lakh
people had read 2,07,00,000 books in just one day from 8 am to 8 pm. In 2008, 2,000,000
people had already read 2,10,00000 books.
During this event an atmosphere emerged where people would talk about books and book
reading most of the time, much like the period during elections when people get involved
with the election processes. In the whole state, 44,000 centers were set up for reading books.
Each village had a book reading center and each center had a zonal officer to take care of the
process. Television and other media crews and the team of Limca Book of World Records
were also present. Members from the Raja Ram Mohan Rai library and all the staff members
of SCERT, Chattisgarh, along with their families participated in the event and read books.
There was no obligation to read any required number of books or pages from books. One
could read as few as 20 pages of a book and choose another book to read if one found it more
interesting. The aim was to create awareness about reading. Following this event, in order to
maintain the atmosphere of reading, reading clubs were established by the State Government
in each village with the support of the Rajiv Gandhi Education Mission.
Thus, the observation of this yearly event is an attempt to bridge the gap between the current
and the desired state regarding the culture of reading. Other important issues such as selection
of books, the decision about which books to be considered quality books, etc. should follow
after an interest in book reading has been developed.
It can be considered a weakness which needs to be overcome if we are unable to develop a
civil society interested in a culture of books and reading. The interest in reading just described
above will automatically be followed by interest in the utilization of libraries. And I would
like to add that only a reader can decide whether a particular book is good or bad.
I have been involved in writing textbooks for children of Classes I to VII. I have also been
involved in textbook development for History for the schools of Chattisgarh along with
Vidya Bhawan, Digantar and Eklavya. Based on this experience, during which I read a number
of books, I feel that it is important to know that history is not just a compilation of incidents.
It is not only the kings and queens who have a history. Every entity has a history. Any person
or any thing, say, a table, chair, a piece of cloth, has a history. A deep understanding of a
certain topic can be developed only by reading books. Each reader would have his or her own
thought and each writer would have his or her own as well. It is possible that a reader approaches
a book from a different perspective than of the writer. It is not possible to judge a book only
on the basis of its layout, design or the font size.
Many efforts have been made in the direction of library development in Chattisgarh and such
efforts should be made in other states of the country as well. However, these efforts will not
be fruitful if the states do not include library development in the legislation of the state, and
implement it. Trained librarians should be appointed with well-defined roles. This year the
Chattisgarh government has provided 400 books in each of the 20,000 primary schools, 400
books in each of the 7000 primary schools and 600 books in each of the 600 higher secondary
schools, along with boxes to keep these books. It has been announced by the Chief Minister
that Chattisgarh would be the 17
th
state of the country to have the library legislation it would
be implemented soon
To inculcate reading habits among people, the Secretary, School Education Department, has
developed a 30 page document entitled “r- ¤-n¬ ·¤i ¤«” which can be made available free of
cost. I would also like to suggest that, just as in Chattisgarh, September 8 should be celebrated
as Book Reading Day in other parts of the country as well. Efforts for developing reading
culture can also be made through newspapers, advertisements, conferences etc.
Discussion
Questions to Dr. Majumdar
Unknown: Don’t you think a virtual school library would get children more inclined towards
computers and internet, which are more of an information based system, and divert them
from the world of, say, literature and deprive them of emotive reading of writers? In that
case, should virtual libraries be made a part of the library system?
Unknown: Is it the case that a virtual library is only related to seeking of information, i.e. is
it only information based reading, or is it also related to things like story reading?
Gurminder: I have been associated with Delhi University since 1994 and on this basis I
would like question your claim that the virtual library has been included in the Delhi University
Central Library System. Which section of the library is provided with a virtual library? Secondly,
since 65 percent of the population of this country resides in villages, how does this population
benefit from a virtual library?
Dr. Hriday Kant Dewan, VBERC: I feel a bit apprehensive about reading of books in a
virtual library. Though I appreciate the fact that there should be the ability to use all resources,
I feel that reading a virtual book on the screen, and holding a book and reading it on paper are
very different things.
Professor Majumdar: I will respond first to the information vs. knowledge issue which is the
crux of the matter. A virtual library, I would say, provides both, but how we receive them is
very important. There are some documents available, which are in full text, which definitely
provide a kind of knowledge you might aspire for. There are also sites at the same time which
provide information.
I have already given examples of some websites. For example, Oracle Foundation has a site
where student can develop their own projects completely. Now, developing a project means
collecting information. From that point of view, it is information based. But simultaneously,
information may be the first step towards knowledge building.
The presentation advocated a hybrid library environment, and not necessarily a virtual
environment. The point is that the world has come closer through an environment which
includes the internet. For example, a reference document which might be unaffordable for the
students to buy can be easily accessed through the internet in a virtual environment.
To respond to computing facility within the environment of the library in the Delhi University
Central library system, I would like to point out that the facility has increased from 50 in 2005
to 325 today. The university has spent 2.2 million rupees for providing accessibility commercial
databases to the students and teachers of the university.
We also provide information literacy services to students in a classroom environment. For
post graduate and research students to educate them about the potential of the information
resources and information technology, the focus is particularly on aspects such as plagiarism
and standardization, which are essential for any student to know.
Questions to Mr. Shastri
Gurminder: Is the kind of work done in Chattisgarh a literacy movement or is it for children’s
library?
Unknown: What sort of arrangements have you made for providing books to every village of
Chattisgrah and what are the sources?
Prasoon Kumar, VBERC: You
mentioned that people read books. You
also said that they read pages. So my
first question is whether it is the books
or pages that are read during the event
of book reading. Secondly, what types
of books do people read? I feel that
reading books and reading newspapers
or magazines are slightly different from
each other. Also, how do you estimate
the number of people who have read
during this event?
Mr. Shastri: I would like to respond first
to the question whether our effort in
Chattisgarh is for literacy development.
The objective of our administration is not to literate the children in this context because only
literate people can read books. This program was a shared effort of the Rajiv Gandhi Education
Mission and the School Education Department and was organized to develop an interest in
reading among children. The objective of the program was to develop the habit of reading,
and attraction for books in the state. SCERT, Chattisgarh, also makes efforts to create this
interest, particularly among the faculty members, schools teachers of DIET, and children.
Therefore, the books provided in higher secondary are books which are of interest to parents
also. Parents are also given the choice of coming to school and reading books and develop
reading habits in themselves.
Regarding the question about reading books or pages, a book may have 500 pages or 50
pages. It is not necessary for a person to read the whole book. Our objective is to just develop
in people an attraction for reading. If a person comes to a center, sits quietly and reads 50
pages of a book, then he can enter his name in the list of those who claim to have read.
Prof. Krishna Kumar
Closing remark
While closing this session, I want to add two points to it. The presentations by Mr. Yashpal
and Ms. Shehnaz, Vidya Bhawan Society, clearly reflect that if a serious effort is made to
make books available to the children, it results not only in development of reading habits,
but also in skill development in all subjects. These results need to be pointed out because
usually the matter of the library is raised in the context of libraries only, as if library is a holy
thing or an important thing in itself. Library here means a collection of books which children
can make use of as and when they want to use them. So in this sense, the library is a source
which develops skills as part of the overall curriculum. Through their presentations we also
know the importance of providing large number of books and also alternatives to the children.
From such a perspective, an effort has been made in NCERT by putting a list of all the
available books on our website which we feel would be useful for children. Recently, we have
developed a series of books, Barkha for Class I and II, in which we are publishing 40 books
simultaneously, which children would read with an aim to learn to read and would hopefully
do so in practice. This would be enforced by the National Council within a few weeks and
would be distributed to states, under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, including five hundred
schools in the district of Mathura where a special experiment to provide Right to Education
to each child and to achieve skills of reading is going on. The main objective of these kinds
of experiments that is going on in various states is to break the boundaries of the school
curriculum which is now limited only to textbooks and exams. The internal pressure that
would accompany the breaking of these limits would also decrease the level of frustration in
the minds of the librarians, as till today our librarians feel isolated from the mainstream of
the school curriculum. The mechanical system of dividing school hours into periods is also
meaningless in the context of library and needs to be reworked upon. The library is a place
where children and teachers can sit peacefully and get enough time for activities based on
their interests.
Prof. Majumdar has pointed out a very important concept of linking the traditional concepts
of library to the modern concept of resources available on internet. However, from this
presentation it is clear that the materials available on internet cannot substitute a whole
library. Rather it should be supplementary to the library and contribute to developing the
library. Thus, one can explore and make use of the benefits that a virtual library offers.
Chair: Prof. Amitabha Mukherjee
Presentations: Mr. Udalak Datta, Room to Read
Contributed papers:
Suruchi Sharma, Librarian, New Era Senior Secondary School of Baroda,
Gujarat
Title: Feedback mechanism, in understanding student’s satisfaction level in
library use
Manju Yadav, Librarian, Government Boys Senior Secondary School,
Mangolpuri, Delhi
Title: The role of ICT in school libraries and present trends of ICT application
in Delhi Government School Library.
Sanjay Sethi, Librarian, Department of Education, Government of NCT, Delhi
Mr. Udalak Datta:
Room to Read, India, started in 2003, operationalised its programme on the field in 2004 as
an affiliated entity of Room to Read, United States. Globally, Room to Read focuses on
children education across elementary, primary, and secondary levels. There are five programmes
in its portfolio. They are as below:
– The flagship programme or the reading room programme for setting up libraries for
children
– Girl education support programme
– The local language publishing programme
– School room programme
– The computer room programme
When we initiated operations in India we did not include the fourth programme, the School
room programme as the Government of India already has the necessary resources. Thus we
started with a four programme portfolio.
Reading Room Programme is the largest one under which we have been setting up libraries
for children. When we initiated the designing of programmes for setting up libraries for schools
in India, we needed to contextualize the programme in the Indian context. India was the
fourth country which was connected to Room to Read, which had experiences of working in
other South and South East Asian countries. Thus, the common view of what a library is in
setting up of libraries was not very different. However, there was resistance to this view and
the need was felt to design the programme not in the same manner as in other countries but to
contextualize it in the Indian rural scenario. So, the libraries that were set up are called reading
rooms. The overall objective of the Reading Room Programme is to promote literacy and the
habit of reading in children which is specified in its long term and short term objectives.
In India, the core issues that we focused on are access to books for children, improving
reading skills and promotion of reading habit. The previous speakers in the seminar have
acquainted us with the education scenario of the country, particularly primary education.
This presentation will look at the issues from a practitioner’s point of view. It is based on the
experiences in setting up 2300 reading rooms in 8 states across the country.
As mentioned already, the Reading Room Programme emphasized on three main issues: access
to books, improving reading skills and promotion of reading habits. The target group for our
work consisted of children belonging to the age group between 6 and 14 years in Grades I to
V in the Government primary schools. The bottom line was that library should be an integral
part of the school curriculum and in alignment with the national agenda.
Implementation of the programme: We chose to work through local NGO partners. The government
is a constant partner as we have consciously chosen to work with the government schools.
There are two crucial elements that we need to have when we set up libraries: concurrence
from the government and acceptance by teachers and parents. After these elements are
achieved we need to look at the other aspects which are necessary for the library to become
regularly functional. In this task the involvement of the teachers and parents has to be sought.
The third question is the question of sustenance of the library and is the most crucial aspect
of setting up a library.
In order to sustain the library, it has to be imbibed in the school education system by designating
a library period in the school time table, space for storing of books, display and function of
the library activities with focus on reading, regular checking in and checking out of books,
and the involvement of both teachers and students in managing the library. Prof. Krishna
Kumar has rightly pointed out in the previous section that it is not fair to allot one library
period, as library is a place where both teachers and students should have enough time to
relax and read. However, in the process of setting up a library and trying to make it a part of
the school curriculum, it might not be a bad idea to allot a designated library period. A
designated space which can function as a library has always been an issue in our experience
particularly the rural areas. We have not specified a specific size of the area or room that we
want in as a library. We maintain that any space in the school where the books can be kept
safe and secure can be a library. What is more important here is the way the books are used.
It should be ensured that activities on reading are carried out smoothly in this space.
When we speak in terms of a particular period, we are limiting the time space. However,
when children are given an opportunity to take the books home the problem is somewhat
addressed. These are the issues that teachers and students can manage together. They should
be given the freedom to develop a mechanism of using the library in their own constructive
ways. Our duty is to suggest certain parameters, which the school can consider along with its
own parameters designed for managing the library.
Another aspect of library building that needs attention is the regular availability of books.
There should be a regular replenishment and as well as replacement of books. New books
should be added to the list of books already available. There should be a regular capacity
building process and monitoring of those who will be managing the library, such as, government
functionaries, teachers and children. It is important that the library function well after a point
of time, with external support from us, our partners or another suitable body. If it is found to
be so, the task of sustaining the library can be considered accomplished.
Each programme has its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. We need to look at
those opportunities that help us in overcoming challenges. Acceptance of the role of NGOs
by the governments is positive sign at the moment, largely due to the efforts of the Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan.
The cooperation between the government and NGOs is an opportunity which should be used
in a positive way and in this context in the development of the education system. We are now
in the fourth year of our operations and we have learned a great deal. On the basis of this
learning, we have considered certain value additions to our approach. One is the adoption of
what is called the area approach in moving forward with our project. Till now our selection of
schools and other related things depended on the priorities set by the government priority or
our norms and conveniences. However, we feel that an area approach will be more efficient
in handling our targets. For this purpose a cluster mapping will be developed on the basis of
which the schools will be selected. We will then move from one cluster to the other.
The second value addition is the concept of the nodal library, which is customized towards
sustainability. An area approach concentrates on one particular area, universalizes that particular
area and converges the nodal libraries with the school library and the classroom effectively. A
nodal library is a book bank with multiple sets located in the cluster resource center (CRC).
Check in and check out of books in the CRCs will be as per the requirements of the schools
that are affiliated to the cluster. The schools therefore do not need to have very large amount
of books as the books in the clusters would be accessible. Replacement or replenishment of
books can be done by the schools in the nodal library in the CRCs on rotation basis. Thus, the
nodal library, the school library and the classroom library can form a continuum and complement
each other.
The third value addition to our approach is the development of reading skills and reading
opportunity in order to bring about reading habits in children. Initially, we assumed that our
work would be to improve an already existing effort towards reading by the school. However,
we faced a situation where in most of the government schools reading skill is far from
satisfactory. This led us to take the initiative to strengthen the school system by starting with
a structured reading agenda. A reading kit for Classes I and II has been introduced in an
attempt towards this direction. We are conducting an experiment in this regard this year in
150 schools and in two years’ time we hope to take this experiment to three hundred schools
across three states.
A programme design will also be added in which focus will be on reading skills in Classes I
and II and on reading habit formation in Classes III, IV and V. This agenda has three main
components: activities with graded material, capacity building of teachers and facilitators,
and creating enabling conditions in schools. One of the imperatives of Room to Read is to
establish long term partnership with the Government, not only at the state level but at all
levels. At the moment, we sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the state
government, particularly with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, and then start working in that
particular state. However, building up a partnership only at the state level is not found to be
sufficient. We have to have multilevel effective partnership at all levels, i.e. at the district,
sub-district and school level. And for this purpose we need to be well- equipped to be able to
liaise and communicate with the government to enter into a meaningful and collaborative
relationship.
Three Contributed Papers
Suruchi Sharma
I work in New Era Senior Secondary School of Baroda, Gujarat. We have two libraries in the
school: a junior library used by students of class Classes I to IV, and a senior library, which is
used by students from Classes V to XII. This presentation would look at, as the title of the
paper says, the Feedback mechanism, in understanding student’s satisfaction level in library
use.
For any institution in order to find the level of success which it has achieved, it becomes
necessary to assess the services provided by that institution. Teachers assess their students’
performance by taking exams and in due course they evaluate their own teaching. So one of
the best ways to assess a person is to take feedback from those to whom this person is
rendering his or her services. Feedback might also highlight the areas which should have been
addressed before and which can be addressed later. For librarians too, it becomes necessary
to take feedback from the users of the library, because ultimately a librarian’s main aim
should be to satisfy the user. In light of this observation, this presentation will look at the
usefulness of feedback mechanism in understanding the extent of satisfaction which users of
the junior library at the New Era School have had in using the library and its resources. For
this study, data was collected from 117 students of Class IV through a structured interview
schedule of feedbacks. We follow an open access system, even for Class I to Class IV students.
The students are free to choose the books on their own. The total collection of books in the
junior library is more than 5000 and more than 13000 in the senior library.
A feedback form in the form of a questionnaire was given to the respondents. Since the
students of Class IV were too young to respond to the questionnaire, the feedback was taken
from them orally. The first question in the questionnaire was: Do you like coming to he
library? The main aim of the question was to find out if they feel motivated enough or
interested in coming to the library to read. Most of the students responded that they liked
coming to the library. There were still some more who did not enjoy coming to the library and
that was because they found the library dull and wanted it to be more colourful. Even though
there are colourful shelves and reading tables, they wanted the walls of the library to be
colourful as well.
The next question was: Do you like reading in the library? The response showed that some
students did not like reading though they were interested in coming to the library. This was
found to be due to two main reasons: bad condition of the books, some torn, and limited
copies of some books. It sometimes happens that a student does not get to read a book at a
certain time as the book is being used by another student and no other copy of the book is
available in the library.
Though we follow an open access system, some of the students felt that they were not given
enough freedom in choosing books on their own for issuing or reading. The reason for such
feedback was that students are sometimes given suggestions by the librarian on what books
to read and are sometimes also discourage to read certain books which might not be of their
level. For example, if a Class II student chooses a book which is of the level of Class IV, it
becomes necessary to guide them to choose the right books. Another reason is that children
face certain pressure from parents when they issue and take books from the library to read at
home. Since these books are not course books, there is a tendency among parents to discourage
children from reading them.
One question in the questionnaire was: Other than the story books, which books do you find
in the library? The response included the mention of encyclopedia, dictionary etc. which
shows their awareness about the library. The next question was: Out of the options given,
which do you refer more than the others? The answer showed that they referred to the
encyclopedia and the subject books more as compared to the dictionaries and atlas. Following
this, I introduced some activities in which they could refer to a dictionary or an atlas. In this
way, they discovered the use of the atlas and the dictionary. When asked if they refer to
anything from the library for different purposes, the majority of the students responded that
they used the library to complete the projects which were given to them by their subject
teachers.
One question asked about their views on the seating arrangement in the library? The junior
library has a carpeted floor and flat reading tables. Children sit down on the floor and keep the
books on the table and read. In response to this question, though the majority of the students
were satisfied, some felt that they should have chairs and tables. The next question was: Is
the arrangement of books proper and organized in the library? Some students expressed that
they found it difficult to handle very voluminous books which are kept in vertical positions
and want them to be kept in flat positions.
The next question ‘Is the librarian available in the library?’ received a mixed response because
the librarian was available for some and not for others. Responses to the question, ‘Does the
librarian help you in finding any book or any information?’ show that though the children
were satisfied with the help they received from the librarian in finding books, they were not
satisfied with her help in providing them with information regarding any book. This pointed
to the fact that the librarian should be more aware of the collection of the library and attempt
to make herself familiar with the contents of the books so as to help the students in a better
way.
Some of the suggestions the children gave at the end of the questions in the questionnaire
are as follows:
− decorate the library with flower pots and the colorful walls
− mend the torn books and buy new books soon
− include more copies of books demanded often
− keep more number of books in flat position
− the librarian should be more vigilant and avoid children from hiding books
− The shelf should not be kept in the centre of the library as it obstructs free movement
in the library
− The labels of the shelves should be of the same size
− The library should be bigger, having a bigger reading table
− There should be a larger collection of references and cartoon books
− There should be a separate place to keep models prepared by students
− There should be no books on the reading table when they enter the library
− More books with puzzles should be included
− Two books, and not just one, should be allowed for issuance per week
− Allow issuance of reference books
− Their younger siblings should also be allowed to issue books from the library
Keeping these suggestions in mind, several changes were accordingly made. They are as
below:
− Book shelves which were in the center of the room were removed and placed on the
sides
− Torn books were mended on the spot when the books were brought for issuing
− Students were taken to bookshops or book exhibitions for buying books of their
choice
− Two books were allowed to be issued only to the winners of the student’s competition
of library week
− Labels on the books and book shelves were made of uniform size and shape
− Voluminous books were now kept in flat position for easy access
− Two book shelves which were very high were cut and made into four shelves so that
children did not have any difficulty in reaching the books kept at the top shelves
After the above steps had been taken feedback was again sought from the students. All the
students but one was satisfied with the arrangement of the books in the library. They also felt
that the librarian was available in the library most of the time. However, some of the students
were still not satisfied with the librarian in helping them with information regarding the books.
This response again suggests that the librarian has to make more efforts in the direction of
awareness of and familiarity with the books in the library. The students were also asked if
they wanted more books and CDs on puzzles, to which they responded that they wanted an
equal number of other books and books and CDs on puzzles as they did not want puzzle
materials to exceed other material. Through the feedback it was also found that their parents
spent time with their children in reading books other than the prescribed textbooks. Thus the
contribution of parents can be seen in inculcating reading habits in the children. On being
asked about the kinds of books they wanted added to the present collection, they chose both
fiction and non fiction, specifically fairy tales, classics, and encyclopedia.
In my five years of experience as a librarian, I have found that boys usually prefer encyclopedia,
and girls like fairy tales and stories. New Era School has been celebrating one week every year
as the library week for the last four years. Different competitions are organized based on
reading and books, such as story writing, book quiz, reference activity, fancy dress in which
children act as characters from books, drawing competitions and slogan writing competitions.
The feedback questions also included the question “Which activity would they like to be
included next year in the library week celebration?”
Finally, as a librarian my future plan is as follows:
− include more books of students’ choice in the library
− continue taking them to the book shops to buy books of their choice
− conduct activities which they like, not only for just one week in a year but more often
These feedbacks have been collected only from student of Class IV. Feedbacks from other
students, and also teachers and parents should also be collected.
To conclude, an efficient feedback mechanism can prove to be a mirror to the services provided
by a librarian. It is an important tool for assessing satisfaction level regarding the services and
gives an opportunity to reevaluate and improve services.
Manju Yadav
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can be explained as forms of technologies
that are used to create, store, transmit, share or exchange information. ICT application broadly
includes such technologies as radio, television, video, DVD, telephone, landline and mobile
phones, satellite system, computers and networks, hardware and software, as well as the
equipment and services associated with these technologies, such as video conference and
electronic mail.
Computers and all other equipment or services associated with these technologies have been
adopted in all areas of human lives. ICT tools are also being utilized in school education for
communication, distance education, and self directed learning, and to enhance the quality of
education. Transmission media like TV and radio also play a role in affecting young minds.
Programs like Gyan Vani on radio, Gyan Darshan on TV have been sources of spreading
literacy and learning skills among children, professionals and other citizens of nation. National
policies have emphasized the extensive use of ICT in education in order to make literate
societies. Computer education has also been included in the school curriculum.
Role of school libraries in school education: The primary, secondary and senior secondary education
in school prepares life long learning skills among children. In this preparation school libraries
assist and play an important role to achieve the educational goals of the school. Present day
school libraries contain books on various disciplines such as literature, social sciences, reference
materials like dictionaries, encyclopedia, atlas, maps, newspapers, magazines, periodicals,
and to some extent, a small collection of CDs of subjects, stories, or movies, etc. In this way,
school libraries are repositories of knowledge and information.
The role of the school library in the school education environment may be stated as under:
− organize knowledge and information sources
− disseminate these sources among children and staff members
− inculcate ideas, develop critical thinking and imagination
− foster reading habits in students from an early age and encourage them to develop
life-long learning skills
− undertake on an ongoing basis the aim of improving knowledge skills and the ability
to learn new things, work in teams, communicate effectively, question, innovate and
assume responsibility
− provide books and reference materials which are useful in understanding other subjects
− provide old question papers to make students aware about the exam pattern, etc.
− provide for general awareness, books with information about the competitive exams,
career news, etc.
− make available reading materials related to extra curricular activities such as cultural
programmes, exhibitions, competitions etc.
Self-reading in school library which is part of informal learning help children to clear their
doubts and get answers to unclear questions. The library teacher assists students by making
them familiar with the ways to use the library. Thus, a school library plays a very crucial role
in the learning process. The school curriculum also emphasizes the role of the school library
as an information and knowledge centre.
Use of ICT application in the school library: A well-developed school library with ICT application
is essential in the present scenario to fulfil the needs of school children. The use of computers
with internet facility provides various opportunities in the school library. The Internet provides
a vast amount of information resources with multimedia features. The positive attitude of
the readers can be developed with the use of audio-visual materials available on web and
with CDs of subject and stories. Students have always faced pressures to score high in exams.
They have limited time to read books of their own independent interest. Computer technology
and internet may be useful to gain access to information in less time in such a situation. It will
also be useful for various educational purposes, such as downloading syllabuses, reference
books, dictionaries, biographies etc. Bar coding method may reduce time involved in
circulation process for the school library. Quite often, it is not possible to purchase the costly
print materials due to shortage of funds. Internet provides various kinds of resources of good
quality free of cost. For example, e-books, e-journals, e-newspapers, e-employment
newspapers, e-dictionaries, electronic encyclopedias etc. are available on the web.
Electronic books are digital books with multimedia features that a user can use on a desktop
or a notebook or a personal computer and download new titles via a network connection.
They also have a large capacity for storage. Several functions such as choosing the title page,
turning book marking, underlining and annotating, touch screen option, etc. are supported by
these electronic books.
Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) which is the computerized catalogue of a library
accessible through the use of internet can also be used. Users may search books of their
choice in less time. Facilities like e-mail services and online discussion forums should be
used to communicate ideas, transfer information, and create awareness about current
developments.
Current trends of ICT application in government school libraries located in Delhi: Some Kendriya
Vidyalays (KVs), Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalay in Delhi and government school libraries under
the Department of Education in Delhi, have been observed to be familiar with the use of
computers and related services. Kendriya Vidyalya incorporates the New Library Policy,
according to which the library is required to contain a well-rounded core collection, including
reference material, to satisfy the regular needs of the staff and students. The core collection
would consist of several copies of text books, reference materials related to each subject,
essential books like encyclopedia, maps, atlas, rare books on particular topics, and editions
of general books. Besides the core collection, other journals for regular issue should be available
in the library. The core collection may be supplemented through a network of e-resources to
provide better qualitative and quantitative services.
The library is also required to have a computer which would be used for sorting information
about the record of books, issue digitized books and provide internet access. All KV school
libraries have computer connectivity in the present scenario. All KV school libraries have one
computer each with internet connectivity. E-Granthalaya library management software is
operational in many KV school libraries for library automation networking.
Computerization in school library is in progress. Some schools have started the process of
entering the details of books on computers and some are in the process of doing so. However,
issue and return of books is still done manually.
Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti also has school libraries with internet connectivity and
uses the Lib-Guru software computerization library services. Circulation of books is done
manually.
The Department of Education, Delhi, adopted the online library module for the
computerization of school libraries. This library module is available on the website of the
department. This online library module is developed especially for the school libraries under
the Delhi government.
The features of library module are as under: index page for the library information system,
books entry form, name of the books, name of authors, publishers, and subject. Book entry
form supports DDC, Colon Classification and Universal Classification schemes. As we select
the classification scheme, class number of documents will be generated automatically. It
updates library records, searches books by book name, publisher, class number, book issue
etc. It displays reports: library book return reports and library book issue reports.
Some public schools such as Delhi Public School, DAV, and International public school were
also visited. These schools use ICT application though the scenario is different from one
another. Libraries in these schools have more than one computer. Internet connectivity is not
provided in all schools. Some paid resources that are used in the schools with internet
connectivity are: National Book Trust (NBT); Children Book Trust (CBT), Publication
Division, online resources available on the web, e-books, etc.
Computerization of school library services is prioritized in some schools. The libraries of KV
schools, Navodaya, Department of Education, NCT Delhi, are equipped with computers
with internet connectivity. The Computer has been included in the syllabus as a separate
subject. However, e-learning contents are not much in use. Electronic documents in digital
forms, such as online books, electronic newspaper, discussions forum etc. are being used to
some extent by school children to access global resources available on web.
Globalization and advances in ICT application are making predictions about paperless libraries
in future. Government school libraries are also facing problems of inadequate reading space,
space for keeping books etc. Internet connectivity gets interrupted during electricity failure
as it is not linked with invertors. The OPAC of the school library repositories are not available.
Websites of NBT, CBT, and publication division provide a variety of books, periodicals and
links to other websites, but these documents are available on a paid basis. National Informatics
Center (NIC), ERNET, etc. have made a significant contribution to the emergence of
networking in the country. These websites offer links to online, free of cost resources accessible
globally.
A variety of information about India’s culture, policies, etc. is provided by websites like the
websites of the Government of India, Press Information Bureau, The Gazette of India,
Planning Commission, etc. Some printed newspapers have their own websites which are
freely accessible.
Sanjay Sethi
This presentation emphasizes the need to train teachers in order that they train students to
read. Reading is not merely repeating and saying the printed words. When reading makes
sense in the mind of the reader or the reader understands what the author wants to say, then
we can say that reading is successful. Habit is a thing of doing something again and again
with pleasure and interest. One can then say reading habit is a tendency of reading printed
words with interest and curiosity for gaining some sort of information. Some essential factors
which can be seen as necessary for developing reading habits are: desire to read, purpose for
reading, interest in reading, and skill in reading.
The role of school libraries in developing reading habits in students has been, unfortunately,
not understood and ignored. And as a result, most of the school libraries hardly get enough
attention in the scheme of education. It cannot be denied that the reading habit of students
is not developed. In this regard, we should not forget to ask the related question about the
reading habits of teachers. It would be useful to observe if teachers themselves have developed
this habit and if they themselves visit the school library on a regular basis to read.
Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the case. Such a situation calls for an urgent need to
change the tendency among teachers in order to motivate students to use the library and
orient them towards reading. One way of generating reading habit among the teachers is
through controlled supervision. Teachers should be involved in each activity of the school
library. For example, they can be asked to look for or suggest a particular book to include in
the purchase list of the school library.
Love for books should also be generated among teachers. They should be made familiar with
the contents of books by displaying the books in proper and different places in the school
library. In any type of school library, careful selection of books is more important than simply
building a collection. It is important to house a good selection of books in the library in order
to attract and motivate teachers to visit the library to read for information, knowledge or fun.
This will lead to teachers motivating students to visit and make use of the library in the best
possible way.
People with higher authorities in the school such as the principal, and education officers
should also play a role in motivating teachers. They can give assignments to the teachers of
writing, for example, a short biography of some person for the school magazine. There can
also be a best reader award for teachers in order to motivate teachers to read more. Some
activities such as asking teachers to review a book in the morning assembly, formation of a
book lovers’ club, staff room library, etc. can be carried out. The school librarian can collect
different types of books for the staff library to make them available to teachers and other
staff members.
Discussion
Questions to Udalak Datta, Room to Read
Dr. Jindal: You have informed in your presentation about the structural aspects and the
implementation of the various programmes of Room to Read. Is there any study or any
practical attempt which looks at the results of these programmes and assesses the
implementation of these programmes? Are you also conducting any kind of activity, like the
Teach India programme for example, which caters to those who do not have the priviledge of
any access to education?
Vishambhar, Shiksha Vimarsh magazine: The question of sustenance is an important issue in
any programme and, in this context, the library development programme. In relation to this
fact, it is very important to look critically at the policies of the funding agencies which support
this programme. We have heard during various presentations during this seminar that a culture
of reading is lacking in our society. In such conditions, how practical is it to depend for the
sustenance of a programme on a funding agency, which might be required by its policies to
withdraw support from the programme? Secondly, there should be a follow up study done on
how to sustain or how long a programme can be sustained after the support of the funding
agencies is withdrawn.
Kanwarjeet Singh Bindra, Department of Physics, Punjab University: Regarding the reading
agenda that was talked about, it seems that children have no way to decide what kind of
books are going to the library. In this agenda, where do children figure in the book selection
process? Secondly, I would like to refer to the open library system worked out by Usha Mukunda,
where children are involved in the working of all aspects of the library including maintenance,
buying books, recommending books and so on. It is a system where teachers or, in fact,
anybody from the society, can also contribute.
Vijay Kumar: (Question to Room to Read) What are the criteria for deciding which books to
select for the collection development? Is there any policy in your programmes which takes
into account linguistic minorities, children with special needs and books in local languages?
What kinds of books do you have in your libraries in rural areas?
Prasoon Kumar, VBERC: What goes inside the black box called the Reading Room? We have
not discussed where these libraries are, who manages these libraries, how are the books selected,
etc. Secondly, lots of children reply that they like reading books in the library when asked.
But their response might depend on the way the question is asked. So the blind conclusion
that children go to the library and that they like reading books based only on their response
should be reconsidered.
Richa, VBERC: Could you elaborate on the teachers’ training? Is your training programme
preparing the teacher to take on additional responsibility?
Questions to Suruchi Sharma
Kanwarjeet Singh Bindra, Department of Physics, Punjab University: As far as choosing of
books is concerned, how do we choose books on behalf of children? Sometimes we choose
books which are higher than our level; we just read whatever we think is necessary for us and
skip the rest. So why can’t we give this freedom to children to decide which book to choose,
read what they want to read and skip what they do not want to read?
Naresh Sharma, Delhi: You have carried out your experiment with feedback mechanism
among the students of Class IV. How familiar are they with encyclopedia, periodicals, reference
books, etc.?
Mr. Udalak Datta
We have completed developing some of our reading rooms and have started an evaluation
process for the same. Simultaneously, we conduct small localized studies and assess the
situation to rectify any wrong. We are thus evolving slowly in a way. There are some very
encouraging anecdotes which are not brought into the formal evaluation format but which
we nonetheless take very seriously. The anecdotes will also respond to some of the questions.
These anecdotes show the way the communities are getting connected with the programmes.
In Uttarakhand, in one particular reading room in school, one child had been checking out a
book repeatedly for three weeks. When the facilitator asked why he was taking out the same
book again and again and why he did not take any other book, the child replied that everyone
in his family is reading the book and they have not yet finished reading it. The other anecdote
is about a child who can not read, but regularly checks out books. When asked by the teacher,
he said that his grandfather reads the books to him. So far as the question of sustenance is
concerned, it is a critical issue, which we build into our building board, as was mentioned in
the presentation. About the practicality of the implementation of the programmes in the
context of the question of sustenance, it is also valid to ask how long an organization can
sustain a programme. If it is not for three years, then five; if not five, then fifteen and so on.
This is an issue which has been constantly discussed with our partners and several other
NGOs. The grassroot factors have been considered as far as possible right from the building
board. At the same time, a very good withdrawal strategy is to be planned.
The first hurdle that we face in our reading agenda is the selection of books. To respond to
the question on a reading agenda, the criteria of selecting books for children are an area
which is very difficult to agree upon. We have talked to various scholars and attended many
seminars on this issue and yet it is very difficult to decide what attracts a child to a book. We
have looked at it from an adult’s as well as a child’s perspective. We commissioned a study
last year to look at the likes and dislikes of children regarding books. It involved directly
talking to the child and assessing their perspective.
When we select books, we follow a set of criteria which is evolving. We have scanned thousands
of books and have been able to identify only 690 books as good books for children. We have
a separate programme, which is called the Local Language Publishing Programme for
developing materials in the local language. However, we cannot ignore the issue of school
language vs. home language in India. At the moment, we define local language according to
the school language and the state we are working in. Gradually, we are also moving towards
the home language. In the reading rooms we provide Hindi books and some English books.
To start with, we have provided books in Telugu in Andhra Pradesh. We will take up the
programme in Maharshtra and may be West Bengal.
To respond to the last questions, Reading Room is not a black box. We have been committed
to the programme for 3 years and the focus is on government schools. When we have an
understanding with the government, then the teachers training is one of the aspects that we
would look into. So it is integrated into the programme right from the beginning. The training
programme will vary across the governments of different states. The activities in teacher
training would be according to the government procedures and processes. As mentioned
before, the government should identify one particular teacher just to initiate the process and
the teacher should be trained. Again as I mentioned, a single teacher will not survive. Therefore,
all teachers should be trained, but it’s a matter of time; so we are phasing it just now, to role
out the whole process of library integration, as an integral part of the school. We will first role
it out and then gradually go from one stage to the next stage, i.e. training and capacity building
of teachers.
An activity concerning books and capacity building over a period of three years involve
children and is in alignment with the government curriculum. These books should be graded
as per the grades specific objectives. And we are thinking in terms of different set of grading,
not linear and very simple.
Suruchi: To answer the first question about guiding children in choosing books, children are
never refused books they want to be issued. However, sometimes guidance is necessary as
children many a times borrow books judging by the cover of the books. Sometimes they
choose books which they are not able to read.
With regards to the next question about the awareness of certain books among Class IV
children, it is observed that even Class I students get attracted to reference books. They are
eager to know about the universe: the sun, the planets, etc. They are curious about cars and
trains. Since they are unable to read each sentence, or even every word, they often approach
me for help. When a new session starts in school, children are introduced to the materials
available in the library. This is also the reason for their familiarity with the encyclopedia,
reference books, atlas, etc.
Sanjay Sethi: This question is addressed to all the NGOs working in field of school libraries.
Is the objective of the work they are doing in this field to work with school librarians or to
work as school librarians?
Mr. Udalak Datta
We work in the most remote areas of the country where schools do not have even the concept
of a library or librarian. Though some books are available in some of these places, turning it
into a library is a big challenge. As schools do not even have a sufficient number of teachers,
a librarian would be a distant dream. Even in Delhi where we are working with 225 MCD
(Municipal Corporation, Delhi) schools, one of the teachers is given the additional responsibility
of looking after the library.
Rakesh Mohan, Centre for Science Education Communication: We execute e-forums in which
we have a system where children can ask questions and get their answers. In the presentations
so far, why is the concept of library limited to books only. Library is a source of information
and information can be obtained from anywhere; say from TV, films or anywhere. So why is
it limited only to the books?
Akhtar Hussain (Department of library information Science, Aligarh): How can reading
habits be developed in schools which have libraries but no librarians.
4 October 2008
Session 1
Chairperson: Professor Vijaya S. Varma
Speakers: Prof. Carol Janisch, Texas Tech University
Prof. Shobha Sinha, from Department of Education, University of Delhi
Professor Vijaya S. Varma
The first speaker of this session is Professor
Carol Janisch. Prof. Janisch is Associate
Professor at the Texas Tech University and
her speciality is in reading. Within reading
her focus areas are comprehension in
content area reading, reading-writing
connections and reading assessment. Prof.
Janisch is also associated with the Centre
for the Study of Reading at Urbana-
Champaign.
Professor Carol Janisch
Access to books can be seen in two different ways. One of the ways is making sure that
libraries and the collections are available. Acquisition and managing of collections of books,
so that students will be able to have texts to read, and the spaces available in the schools
where those collections can be kept are important aspects to be given due attention.
Another way of looking at access to books is that teachers or library teachers need to be
aware how the reading process works. It is not enough to have just the books to read. They
should be aware that students can be helped to develop as readers and engage in books in
order to comprehend. In this presentation, the main focus would be on the reading process
and two important theories about the reading process and reading comprehension: the Schema
Theory and the Metacognition Theory.
“What must a reader do or know” is paramount or books will not be accessed in the sense of
comprehending or understanding the author’s message. There are two important theories that
can be considered in order to have students develop as readers and then access the ideas in
the books. Prof. R.C. Anderson, University of Illinois, brought the notion of Schema Theory
to reading. Reading had been viewed in terms of a product, which answers to comprehension
questions. The Metacognition Theory, on the other hand, gives us some much needed insight
into the reading process and reading comprehension: what occurs during the process, what
occurs in the mind of the reader as the process is going on so that access to ideas can take
place. Very simply, schema is defined as all the knowledge which we possess about events,
objects, actions, behaviours, and people. In a way it can be seen as operating world knowledge,
which is very complex and interrelated. For example, we can have schema for a tree: we think
about what trees look like. There is a description that is a part of our schema; we think about
the different shapes of the leaves; we think about products, which are made from trees; we
then think about deforestation ideas and how we manage trees as a crop; then we move to the
environmental issues and the importance of trees; we can also then think about the swings
that are hung on trees that we might have seen during our childhood. Thus, all of these
things comprise my schema for trees: very complex, ever growing, ever expanding, always
added to.
The knowledge that we have about a topic needs to be brought to the act of reading. The act
of reading is an interaction between what we think about as bottom-up and top-down reading.
Bottom-up reading is looking at the text and decoding, which students can be very good at.
That is not complicated and there are all sorts of Fannix roles and Fannix generalizations and
ways to help students decode, but that’s only one piece of the process. Students cannot rely
on just reading words on the page as it will not magically lead to understanding or
comprehension. There is another part of the process going on and that is this notion of a
process of bringing your schema or one’s knowledge to the text and this is called top-down
reading. The process of reading involves moving back and forth between the bottom-up and
top-down processes. We read words on the page and then refer to the knowledge we have; we
read more words and then refer again to the knowledge. This is the bottom-up reading. We
also indulge in top-down reading which is bringing our knowledge first when we read. This
interaction is the essence of the reading process: we need to think about our schema or our
knowledge that will give a good account of what is in the text.
A classic example is the sentence in an article by R.C. Anderson which starts with, ‘The
notes were sour…’. I can read it; the notes, N, O, T, E, S, were sour, S, O, U, R. However, when
I initially look at it and read it I cannot comprehend what it means. Then, one can try to
understand it by reading the words slower. Still I find that I still cannot comprehend the
meaning. Reading it faster again does not help. We will look at speed fluency in reading and
how it really is highly overrated. Now, what is missing when I read the text is bringing my
schema, some prior knowledge, to that text before I can comprehend what it means.
Now, the next part of the sentence is, ‘…because the seams were split’. Seams S, E, A, M, S,
were split S, P, L, I, T. Reading the text faster or slower does not bring about any comprehension
unless we bring our prior knowledge or schema to the text. In the case of the sentence in
question, all one needs to know is about bag pipes. If one knows about bag pipes, then one
would think of all the complicated, inter-related ideas about bag pipes in order to comprehend
the sentence. One would know that the instrument isn’t working, the notes are sour, because
there is tearing in the bag that holds the air that ultimately produces the sound, the seams are
split. Thus, one needs to apply both the bottom-up as well as top-down reading of prior
knowledge to the text before comprehending it. In this way, the interaction between bottom-
up reading and top-down reading or the use of decoding and the deployment of schema
proceeds interactively to give us a meaningful and coherent interpretation of the text. Some
knowledge based problems with schema are availability, selection, and meaning. Availability
implies that one has to have the knowledge of the topic to bring to the active reading. For
example, if one does not have any knowledge of bag pipes, one cannot bring it to reading and
therefore comprehension will falter. The second problem is an issue about selection. Sometimes
readers have knowledge or schema about a topic but they might not just think about it. You
all probably had a working acquaintance with bag pipes. But if that knowledge is not selected
to bring to the reading of that sentence or passage, comprehension will not be achieved. So,
not only should there be knowledge of the topic but the knowledge has to be selected. And
when there is an issue of students not having the schema or the prior knowledge available,
the role of the teacher comes in.
It cannot be assumed that students have knowledge that needs to be brought in order to
comprehend a text. If a teacher is not aware that children may not have the knowledge about
the topic under consideration, there can be difficulties with reading comprehension. So the
teacher has to share his or her prior knowledge or schema. So, readers go back and forth
between considering the text and consulting the knowledge of the topic to construct meaning
or to have comprehension take place.
The readers need to have an expectation that they will do this interactive processing and that
comprehension will result. If students expect to do the decoding only, comprehension cannot
be achieved. There is a programme in the USA that is widely sold and many times teachers
buy it, but parents also utilise that programme. It is a Fannix programme. Children learn how
to identify and recognize words and read the bottom-up fashion: they call out the words.
There are testimonials given about how this programme is so successful. They would have
children read out aloud. The children definitely are very good at saying the words and sounding
out the words, and know the sound of the letters and then turn them into words. However, it
would be worthwhile to ask about the comprehension of the children about what they are
reading because thinking about prior knowledge and the interactive process of reading do not
seem to be part of this programme. But the second theory is the Metacognition Theory, also
an important theory dealing with the reading process. This theory was promoted for reading
by a person named Ann Brown who is a professor at the Centre for the Studies of Reading.
According to this, reading is a cognitive process with the reader actively engaging in constructing
meaning of the text. Meaning does not reside in the text. Readers bring their schema and
bring their knowledge of how texts are organised while they read; additionally readers make
inferences during the process. To take this active stance in reading as opposed to a passive
one, readers need to think about thinking. Hence, the notion of Metacognition, meta meaning
alongwith and cognition refers to the mental processing. So you get another layer of what some
would consider consciousness, or awareness that you really have to be attuned to what’s
happening during the reading process.
Interesting studies were done in the name of Metacognition and students were given passages
to read. One of the passages that was used many times was about life in the ocean. Thus, it
was about under sea creatures, their lives, food chains, habits, and so forth. But in the research
text for metacognition, they would put in a sentence, say about the desert, so that you would
be reading about life in the ocean depths and all of sudden, there would be a sentence or two
thrown in about life in the desert, the desert animals, which was totally an anomally. Then
students were asked about that text. Those who were just reading the words and merely going
along decoding did not see any problem with that text. This was so because they were not
actively paying attention to comprehension. As they were not actively thinking about or
referring to their prior knowledge, they would not be thinking about how the text was
proceeding. They did not have the level of awareness to even notice the anomally in the text.
Thus, those studies were important in demonstrating the lack of metacognition.
Metacognition or an increased level of awareness about comprehension pre-supposes two
areas of knowledge. One is, in order to be metacognitively aware, a student needs four areas
of knowledge:
− awareness of the task of reading
− awareness of the text they are actually reading
− awareness of themselves as readers
− awareness of strategies that help them with comprehension
Awareness of the task of reading: A student has to know that reading is for meaning. They need
to know that fundamentally you come away from reading with comprehension and understood
what the author’s message is. It is an effort for gaining meaning. Students have to make a
distinction between effort reading and aesthetic reading. In effort reading we take or extract
information from books. In aesthetic reading we have a fine live-through experience if it is a
narrative, for example. Students need to understand those distinctions in order to utilise
them.
The text: There is a whole range of texts for different purposes that can be put in the library.
There are books, which is information based, story books, magazines, graphics. Students
need to be shown that these different books are to be read for different purposes.
One thing which is important to know is that the text has a certain structure, and this is
something that seems to be complicated for students to understand. If you take information
of books, they can be organised basically in a cause and effect structure, compare and contrast
structures: one sea creature can be compared to another sea creature; you can have problems-
solutions structure, etc. All of these are ways that the author organised text. One has to be
aware of how the author organised ideas if one tries to comprehend and engage in interactive
processing, Comprehension will be greatly enhanced if this level of awareness is achieved.
Awareness of self as a reader: One very simple example of how one approaches reading is the
practice of highlighting certain information in the texts which the readers think are important.
One can write in the margins of the book as well if highlighting is found too messy. In a
metacognitive survey I had with some sixth grade students, they were asked how they
approached the reading of a text. One boy said that first one has to the highlight in the book.
When asked what is it that is to be highlighted, he answered that there are eight things to be
highlighted. Then, he was asked how he knows what to highlight. He could just somehow
figure them out and tell. The real notion here is that important information is to be highlighted.
The boy did know how to sort out important from unimportant information, but that’s another
issue.
Awareness of strategies to comprehend: A good reader has the whole repertoire of strategies that
the uses. One of them is self questioning. I do not have much to say in this matter at the
moment. Of course, an achieving reader who comprehends would have to know that they
have just had comprehension breakdown. Good readers use strategies of summarising. They
stop along the way and make a summary, either mentally or by writing it out, about what they
have just read. Good readers sometimes read ahead when they realise that they don’t
understand. But generally when students are into bottom-up reading and they think decoding
is the most important piece, they cannot possibly read ahead because they have not even
understood where they are in the text. But good readers do read ahead. Even as adult readers
sometimes, we go to the end and read the summation of a chapter, before we read it.
Predicting is another strategy: what does one think what the text is going to be about. Predicting
is tied very closely to thinking about that schema or knowledge that you have to bring into
the text. Drawing inferences helps comprehension. To cite a personal example, I and my
students were reading this book in a class. These students are going to be teachers of sixth,
seventh, eighth, and ninth grade, so inference making has to be a part of what they share with
their students. So, to show them an example of inferencing, they were given a story which can
be told very briefly now. The story starts with a man coming home after working in the fields
all day and he is driving his truck. There is a man on the road and he runs over the man with
his truck. He goes out and looks at the man. The man gets up and so he helps him. The man
is fine. He comes and helps him in his truck and the man drives him home. All sorts of things
happen at home. They eat hot soup and the family is blowing on the hot soup to make it cold.
The man does not have to blow on his hot soup, he just drinks it hot. They dance; he doesn’t
know how to dance so they show him how to dance. He is not feeling well, so they take his
temperature, but the thermometer breaks. At the end of the story, he goes outside and he
looks across the valley, and he sees that the leaves are changing red and yellow, but the leaves
around the house are green. So he lets out a really loud cough and then the leaves turned
yellow. So I asked the students what the story is all about? They gave me very literal account
of the story; this man gets run over, he goes to the house, he eats soup, falls sick, and then he
decides his time to go home. However, what is missing in this effort of comprehending the
story is inferencing. The students failed to think about the prior knowledge or the schema
that they needed to realise that the story is about the popular fictitious character, called Jack
Frost, who changes leaves from green to yellow. So, making inferences based on prior knowledge
is part of comprehension.
Thus, one important aspect of strategies is that students have to know that the strategies
making inferences, predictions, and self questioning exist. The second aspect is that they
have to know how to use these strategies, and then the third, when to use the strategies.
Besides knowledge of the text, task, strategy, or reader, students have to control their
comprehension. They have to keep track of how well or otherwise comprehension
understanding is progressing. The question whether they understood something or not is
always in the back of their minds. This self regulation is the hallmark of a proficient reader
and is an important part of understanding and comprehending.
Before moving on to the application of these theories, namely, the Schema Theory, the
Metacognition Theory and a kind of a crossover theory, to help teachers in teaching reading,
let us briefly deal on the notion of fluency in reading in relation to the Schema theory. Recall
that the sentence ‘Notes were sour because the seams were split’ cannot be comprehended
unless we bring in the schema for bag pipes to the sentence.
We have a programme which is solely based on fluency that many of the schools use in the
US. This would be an example to demonstrate the point which I would like to make about
Schema Theory. According to this programme, students have a box of reading materials
which are good informational books, good stories, etc. They take them out and take turns
reading to each other. A stop watch kept in the box is used to see how many words per minute
they can read. The faster and more words per minute one can read, the better reader one is, or
so the programme says.
The teacher has to use it because of a mandate and knows exactly what is happening, but
what is worrying is that students think that the faster they can read the better reader they will
be. On the day that I was in the class, the text they had was on Abraham Lincoln. But all that
they were focusing on was the fluency with no idea what they are reading about. So, some
serious examination of the programme needs to be done. The point to be emphasied here,
which is related to Schema Theory, is that if they had read and talked about Lincoln in the
context of that text, they would have understood more so that when they read the second,
third and fourth text on Lincoln they would have had all kinds of information to bring to that
reading in that interactive processing to help comprehension.
An activity which can be done relating to the Schema Theory is by using a chart called the
KWLL Chart which is a simple but powerful tool for building students’ knowledge of a topic
that they ultimately use in comprehension. K in KWLL stands for ‘what you know about the
topic’, W stands for ‘what you might want to think about in terms of the topic’ or ‘what
questions you might raise’, the first L is for ‘what is it that you learnt about the topic’, and the
second L stands for ‘where you learnt what you learnt’. The activity is started by choosing a
topic, say the topic is ‘Endangered Species’, which I chose in one class. The students are
asked what they know about endangered species and told to write their anserws in the K
column of the chart which is put up in the classroom. There was not much response to the
question. The students were then asked if they have any questions regarding the topic and if
they do they write it under the W column. It was difficult to get many questions as they did
not have much knowledge about the topic. At this point, they are given some information
about the topic, in this case the endangered species, which they can consider as their prior
knowledge when they read about the topic. Then, they pick from a range of easy books, hard
books, stories, informational books about the topic, etc. They are then asked to contribute to
the chart. So, the next time, they would be asked who among them have got something to put
under L column. Teachers can start the activity by contributing to the chart first to encourage
and motivate students. As time goes by, the chart goes on getting filled. An entire schema is
recorded for the topic so that as students continue reading their collection of books, they can
go back to that chart and use the information to help them comprehend their reading.
The question ‘where did you learn it?’ is part of that metacognitive awareness. One thinks
about the kind of text one got it from, or the strategies that may have helped you to understand
it. So, the last column is filled with all sorts of things that probably fit in the metacognitive
awareness level. One cannot write where you learnt them unless one was thinking about
what one was reading, when one read it and why one read it.
After the little schema activation that is needed at the beginning is done, students are asked
to stay engaged with the text to promote comprehension. They are asked to constantly read,
raise questions, answer and contribute to the KWLL chart. So there is always that level of
awareness about what they read and bring back to fill the cells. There is never really focus
vocabulary. When they deal with ‘Endangered species’, they come across words like habitat,
encroachment, pesticides, etc. The more they read, the more they encounter those words, the
more we talk about them, the more we put on the KWLL Chart, the more they start internalizing
the meaning of these words. Vocabulary is an important part of reading comprehension. The
stronger the skill in vocabulary, the more the comprehension level. So vocabulary is built
through this kind of notion: keep the chart up all the time, always consulting it, always
connecting what we read to what we have in the chart or what we don’t have on the chart or
we need to think about.
Now, let us look at another example of an activity for promoting metacognitive awareness
apart from the Schema Theory.
I, as the teacher, decide on the important concepts that I want students to think about as they
read. I give them some up-front kind of task and tell them to think about certain concepts.
Then before they read, I read out the concepts aloud and ask if they agree or disagree with
that particular concept. They have to access their prior knowledge and look at what they
know about it and this can be well into the study of the topic, so that they get some schema
for it. The first one is that because of their unique appearance, weeping cranes were an easy
pray for hunters. These are huge birds black and white and red feathers, and quite striking.
They are endangered species, and the notion is that the reason for their demise is that they are
an easy prey for hunters because they were gorgeous. They are asked whether they agree or
disagree with the notion and why. They would need to recount or give the rationale: where
did they read what they know or how they know that.
Then we look at the other statements:
Weeping cranes laid two eggs per year, which helps to keep them off in the danger list
Great endurance make the weeping cranes migration trip from North America to
South America an easy one.
The students have to go to reading to answer why they agree or disagree with the above
notion. This would create a heightened level of awareness for comprehension. Afterwards,
they are asked if they agree or disagree after reading and why they think so. This exercise
proves to be a powerful tool to make the reader become engaged actively in the reading and
think about comprehension.
Another powerful kind of notion from Metacognitive awareness is the technique of ‘think
aloud’. When we look at the reading process, we do not look at just the product or the
answers to the questions, but we also want to know what goes on in the mind during the
reading process, the cognitive process. In the technique of ‘think aloud’, a teacher may read
a passage and as she reads, she is indulging in all kinds of strategies. She stops, does self-
questioning of her own, makes inferences, predicts, sort of what David Pearson calls sharey
listener’s cognitive secrets. The idea is, the more the students hear that language from the
teacher, the more they as the reader internalise it and then do it themselves. So, it is a way to
share strategies with students.
To summarise, books and library are very important, but equally so is the library teacher or
the classroom teacher who has knowledge about the reading process. The teacher has to
know the theories about reading and Meta-cognitive theory and Schema theory that underlie
the reading process. It is important to know about the reading process and the theories that
are important to understand comprehension. The teacher chooses the good books that are
available, so that students become motivated to read and become engaged in reading. Just
having good books available or, in one sense of the world, accessible is not enough. Students
need insights into how to comprehend so that the message is accessible. They need to keep
track of whether they have understood or not. The main task of reading is to gain meaning.
And all of these seem to speak about the knowledge base of teachers. Teachers have to know
about the reading process. They need to have knowledge about the theories. So, at this point
it is important to think how to help and prepare teachers to this direction.
Dr. Shobha Sinha, Department of Education, University of Delhi
The focus of this presentation is an engagement with literature which is an aspect of reading,
which deals with the emotive and aesthetic aspect of reading.
The presentation will be in three parts:
− The first part deals with the current pedagogy of reading in the context of teaching of
literature: stories, poetry, etc. which attracts many to reading. It will be done on the
basis of the Indian scenario regarding the pedagogy of literature.
− Prof. Carol Janisch has talked about the cognitive theory of reading, schema theory
and metacognition in her presentation. In this presentation we will look at the reader
response theory. The starting point of this part of the talk will be similarly a reference
to Prof. R.C. Anderson. The sentence which Prof. Janisch had quoted, ‘Notes were
sour because the seams were split’ seems to be a slightly difficult because though we
understand the words: notes, sour, seam, split etc, we could not get the meaning of
the sentence just by reading and knowing the meaning of the individual words unless
we take this sentence in the context of music.
Both reader response theory and schema theory talk about the reader, the constructive
aspect of reading, and prior knowledge, but with emphasis on different things. The
emphasis while dealing with the cognitive aspect and the knowledge structure will be
on the emotional aspects of reading and what experiences tell us about reading.
− The third part of the presentation will about the implications of the theory for the
Indian teachers in the classroom. We do not have ready-made solutions to the problems
but we definitely need to work towards them. We also need to bring in research in
handling the problems faced.
As we look at Indian literacy, it is a welcome sign that we are finally talking about schools.
Twelve years back when I started teaching in Delhi, in the Elementary Education Programme,
and also earlier while writing a review of literature on literacy in India, one of the things that
troubled me was that it was very hard to find anything which dealt with either schools or
pedagogy or the related processes. We talked a lot about statistics, census, and figures about
literacy and the sheer number was a cause for lament. Some cross national comparisons
added to the cause as there were many people who could claim that they were readers, but
who actually read without comprehension and at a very minimal level. It is unfortunate that
we have been not very ambitious in terms of reading. We have been very modest while the
things we expect out of literacy are very great. Literacy is seen as transformative that will
bring some critical changes in our lives and will make us think about things critically. It is
important that issues like comprehension and related issues start figuring in our discourse.
It is unfortunate that literacy is often understood to mean only adult literacy. The result is
that no attention was paid to schools where, at least in primary education, one of the main
skills to be taught to children is reading. Not teaching reading effectively in schools at the
primary level leads to bigger problems as children proceed towards higher classes where they
would have to read much more and comparatively more complex texts. So, leaving out schools
from our literacy programme is a strange and undesirable omission. When we take children
into consideration in this whole picture, we are looking at two different groups of children
with different backgrounds. One group of children comes to schools with a background
where there is literacy at home. They can see how literacy affects life in many ways: parents
read, you get a bill and you are very unhappy, they get newspapers in the morning, they are in
a hurry to read it, they look at the timetable to figure out which train they are taking and so
on. The other group of children with a background where there is no literacy at home, who
think literacy will change their lives in some ways. We can not blame parents for this situation
as they come from minimal literate background or no literacy at all. These children can acquire
literacy only in a school environment. In such a case the responsibility of the school is not to
just carry out the tasks of teaching the children mechanical skills like sounding out words.
The schools need to realise the role literacy can play in the lives of these children. And it is a
sad fact that these issues are hardly talked about or discussed.
So this conference on school libraries and reading has come at the right time. However, it is
slightly worrying that in a country with paucity of materials like ours, our emphasis still is on
materials. Literacy, of course, cannot take place in vacuum. But it would be a misconception
to believe that just the presence of material would make us better readers.
In America, there have been things like Book Flood Project, where they provided a lot of
books to children and children did fare better. At some point, we need to know how we use
material. We have electricians coming to our homes to repair a fan. We also see chairs and
tables in our surroundings. This necessarily does not imply that we become electricians or
carpenters. Likewise, one does not become a reader by just having books around. The
environment, to read should not be just materials. The more important question is how these
materials are to be used. And this is where the theories of reading come in. It needs to be
addressed that if children do not get to know the excitement of books, barring looking at the
pictures and some initial stages of excitement about it, what they will do with books.
With this background, let us now move on to what constitutes engagement with the text in
the classroom and what is being done in the name of teaching in our classrooms. The issue of
materials will be looked at from the point of view of a child in the context of what he or she
goes through in school. Let us begin with a look at class I or the first entry level class where
the child shows up in the school. And the main concern here would be of children who come
from very little or no literacy background.
In the ancient university of Nalanda, it is believed that the first test was taken by the guard.
He would test the knowledge of the examinee and one could fail right there at that initial
stage. Likewise, the tradition can still be seen as existing when children do not survive even
the first grade due to the type of materials we use. Children always get a list of words to read
and here is a small list: car, rice, government, asthma, evening, sword, year, black. One may very well
ask why such difficult words are given to a first grade child. Let us now read it in Hindi and
we will understand why they are given:
¬iº ·iin ¬º¬iº (-i ‘ii- n¬(iº ¬i¬ ¬i¬i
These words have the sound [a:] in common, and we now see the reason behind the composition
of this list of words, i.e. a list which consists of words which a first grade child need not
worry about, such as [(-i]. There is no schema which accounts for this kind of list of words
which are not connected with each other except for a sound.
According to David Pearson, our thinking is not organised phonetically but semantically.
Now, let us look at another example in Hindi:
«i¬ (¬i¬i ¤iº ·ini¬i ‘iiº · -¤i¬i
¬( ·i| «i¬ (¬i· ¬i ¬r ºri r ¬·i| ¬r ºri r ‘iiº · -¤i¬i+
¤i-’ii¬i ¤¬i l¬ni( ªii¬i (i¬ ¬º ¤«i (ªi ¬º l¬ªii nin ¬i ºi-.ºi- º-· (i+
The common sound that we have here is [o]. There is no connection in meaning. Then we also
have almost non-sensical sentences, like ¬i- ¤º ¤« which means ‘climb on a mango’ ln¬i¬ l¬º ¤º
-n ºªi and ¬¤ -n (· ‘don’t be a snake’. All these examples are taken from the first grade
primers where we are so busy teaching graph phonics that we forget that they have a meaning.
The message we are giving a child who comes from a non-literate background is that reading
is a thoroughly non-sensual activity. How can a child connect to such kinds of texts and
indulge in some kind of emotional engagement to attach oneself to the texts? Sometimes in
senior classes such as ninth or eleventh grade, we often find the most boring texts or stories
by great authors. Personally, it is a frustrating experience to teach those stories to children.
One solution to overcome this problem is to take stories from sources outside the prescribed
textbooks.
So, the materials have to be interesting enough even in the classroom for children to engage in
reading them and carry out activities like those which Prof. Janicsh has talked about in her
presentation.
Let us now look at the issue of the actual teaching that takes place in terms of literature in
the classroom. Sadly, one common practice of reading often seen in classrooms is reading
aloud. Children read aloud the same things one by one. This is called the Round Robin Reading
in English. In this practice, the child does not need to pay much attention to the text; they
just have to know when their turn would come and should not be caught by the teacher.
Teachers also can be seen as addicted to explaining and if one sits and listens as an adult one
would realise how imposing those explanations are. For example, one of my students was
particularly addicted to this habit of providing lengthy explanations. In one incident he was
explaining a poem by Mahadevi Verma, a great poetess in Hindi. It was a poem of ten lines
and he explained it over three periods. When asked why he did so, he said that it was rather an
abstract poem and needed to be explained that way to the students. This can make one ask if
a great poetess like Mahadevi Verma is so incapable of expressing what she wants to say. In
another incident, this same teacher was teaching in the ninth grade class a play where the
bridegroom’s family comes to see the bride. The bride’s family offers tea and refreshments to
the bridegroom’s family. So, my student-teacher, who was so used to explaining entire texts,
went ahead to explain even a simple sentence like, ‘Come and have tea’ in the play. There was
nothing abstract in that sentence. These incidents point to the fact that teachers explain to
such an extent because children are never seen to be equipped to be independent readers. No
attention is paid to how children derive meaning from what they read. We interpret the meaning
for them and want them to get just that.
Another issue which teachers are not aware of enough is the type of questions we ask the
children. Let us look at another example of what usually happens in a literature class. In a
Hindi class, a student was asked to read a story. This was a story on the childhood of Louis
Braille. The story tells how Louis Braille lost his eye sight because of an accident in his
father’s shop when something pierced his eyes. Then, it further goes on to tell how after that
accident Louis Brail became blind and never ever saw sunrise or sunset again, and never
realises when the moon comes out in the sky. It was a very moving story and the whole class
was paying attention to the story, feeling sad and pity for the child in the story. The class was
all quiet. When the girl finished reading the story, the teacher asked a question. The question
was: What kind of shop did Louis Brail’s father have? The spell was broken. By asking these
kinds of questions, the teacher is not engaging the children with the literature, but rather is
distracting them. This question does not help the child reader. The focus of attention of the
children is shifted to something which is not central to the story and which is unimportant. It
does not matter what kind of shop the father had. What was important was that the child
became blind and had to live with his blindness for the rest of his life. Thus, a class which
was actually involved and engaged was interrupted and disturbed when this questions was
asked and taken away from where they should have proceeded further.
Talking of stories, it is very common to find that most of the stories that we engage in in
classrooms are ones with a moral at the end. Prof. Krishna Kumar had once written that if we
look at Hindi texts, we find that right from mountains to rivers, everything exists in a story to
give some or the other kind of moral lesson to the child. In this regard I would like to share an
experience I had when I was a student. I was pursuing the B.Ed. programme and one of my
fellow students was sharing how she would teach a funny story about a sadhu, a medicant who
used to tie his pigtail in the front. It was a poem which described the funny things that happen
to the sadhu because of his habit. She did a fairly good job of telling the story and we all had
fun. Then suddenly, one of my classmates suggested that we should tell this poem to the
children and tell them that there is a lesson in the poem: that one should never tie pigtails in
front of one’s face!
Nowadays, the question of reading is being given some attention. However, the attention is
mostly on the materials read. There is no focus on why we are reading. In Karnataka a few
years ago, I observed a Class II lesson conducted in Kannada, which I do not understand
much. But what I did understand did not make me happy. They were reading a story and the
whole period was spent on two lines in the first paragraph of the story. So, it was impossible
to maintain any kind of continuity. Students took each word and broke it into syllables and
had to clap with each syllable. Now it may be more sophisticated to talk about syllables, but
in the process the essence of the story is lost. The students would then take a word and start
finding out the categories those words belonged to: noun, verb, etc. But that is not why a
story is read. They would have acquired all these concepts anyway. Such a practice is one of
the ways of breaking the experience of reading, especially among second or third grade students.
Something is wrong if we do not carry the function with the form. All these issues need to be
considered seriously because this is the pedagogy which children will receive. It will be
worthwhile to ask what these children would do, after being subjected to such teaching, when
they have to use the more advanced books that they find in libraries. It should come as no
surprise that they would go to the libraries, look at pictures, get bored and then demand new
books, only to do the same again. They would not find the excitement or fun that they could
if they read that book. Neeta Kumar in a session in this seminar talked about how in Indian
education we have never really paid a great deal of attention to children or pedagogy. She
called it a pedagogic inefficiency and pointed out that as adults we feel that just because we
have some goals for education, they will automatically be realised. Children are just incidental.
To quote her, “This taking for granted of children’s responses and assumptions of their passivity
has cost the adults dear.” How adult intentions got translated into children’s experiences, and
further what they meant to children in terms of learning, interest no educator and this has
cost us. It has never been asked what children understand or experience of our ideas, and
whether our expectations from those ideas or reading have been fulfilled or not. A programme
like the one carried out by Room to Read is concerned with how to go about negotiating with
government and teachers. But what was missing was concerns about the children’s reactions
towards that programme and what they wanted to understand from the books. We need to ask
and know what children understand, and to start realising that we need to have more theoretical
understanding. This brings us to main theory that this presentation brings forth, the Reader
Response Theory.
Reader Response Theory, developed in 1939, can be considered as a cousin theory to Schema
and Metacognition theories, but particularly the Schema theory. A great reading educator
called Louise Rosenblatt wrote a book called Literature as Exploration which did not receive
much attention, even in the United States for several decades. In the 1960s, it got reprinted
and started getting some attention, and in 1978, she wrote another book. Various other scholars
from the field of literary theory paid attention to the Reader Response Theory, the emotive
aspects of reading. To quote Rosenblatt, “When these symbols lead us to live through some
moment of feeling, to enter into some human personality or to participate imaginatively in
some situation or event, we have evoked a work of literary art.” By symbols she means the
print. To give an example,: Premchand, in his famous and moving novel Nirmala, writes
about a girl who enters a bad marriage after her father is unable to pay a dowry, thus leading
to a tragedy in her life at the end. Apparently, this novel came out as a series initially and
many women wrote to Premchand about how they felt about the story and identified with the
charater. One becomes so involved that one starts developing empathy for its characters. We
become worried when Hamid goes to Idgah with only three paisa in his pocket; the character
is always lectured by his elder brother about what he should or should not do, and we remember
how we went though the same kind of lectures from our elders.
What do we say about this kind of reading, which makes us feel the experiences? A picture
book called ‘Whistle for Willie’ is about a boy who wants to whistle but cannot. He likes to
call his dog by whistling. The dog would run to him but this poor kid cannot whistle. Whenever
he tries to do so, strange things happen, but no whistle. And one fine day he gets to whistle.
In that illustrated book, the page is filled by his face and cheeks because he can finally whistle,
and I feel good for him. So one can get engaged in small ways with the text and feel for the
characters; it doesn’t have to be very big things.
There are three important points of the Reader Response Theory. The first is that the reader
is active. During Dr. Janisch’s presentation, we have seen how a reader brings in his/her prior
knowledge to the text. The reader does not comprehend the meaning of the sentence, ‘The
notes went sour because the seams were split’ unless they are aware that the sentence is
about bagpipes. So, the reader has to bring his or her experiences to reading. In this theory too,
feelings of the reader are acknowledged. Suppose we read a story about floods. If we have
experienced a flood, our response to the story would include feelings associated with our
experience. Let us take the example of dowry in India. Most Indians would relate to the
concept when they read about it. However, in a study done in America, the subjects, who
were students, were given a written piece about Indian marriages. The American students,
when asked to write their response to the text, wrote that dowry was an exchange of presents
between the boy’s family and the girl’s family. Now, one can understand the reason for this
mistake as Indians would know that it is not an exchange but it’s primarily about the girl’s
family giving to the boy’s family. To take another example, all of us find death tragic. However,
our experiences would be different and we have to learn to respect the differences in the
classroom as well. These differences can be cultural. So those of us who are in India see
dowry in one way, while others may have different ideas about it. It may be about religious
beliefs or it may be personal, for example. What is at work is the cultural schema: the reader
brings cultural experiences and beliefs to the text he reads. One may like a certain type of
people and this may influence them to read a certain type of character with more interest.
One may not like certain type of characters because of some people that one does not like.
So, we bring to bear our experiences on what we read and that may help us realise the worth
of what we read. In this respect, readers may have similarities as well as differences.
In many European countries, and even in America for a while, subjectivity was considered a
problem in reading. Reading was considered to be done objectively. If a reader brought
subjective feeling, it was thought to be a kind of fallacy which was imposed on the act of
reading something subjective. It is important to ask why we relate to a book so differently. It
is because the text is not self-contained and not transmitted into our minds. We transact the
text to get meaning out of it. So the reader is as important as the text and cannot be left out
of the discourse. And teachers make the mistake of trying to extract the meaning from a text
and supply a package to our students because we concentrate only on the text. The whole
process of interaction, what Rosenblatt calls the “live through experience”, is critical to the
reader.
Rosenblatt has differentiated between the phonetic and aesthetic aspects of reading. She
talks about efferent reading. Efferent is a term which is derived from a Latin word effer, which
means ‘take away’. Reading programme sheets, brochures, instructions on a medicine box, a
time table informing about a train schedule, etc. are examples of efferent reading where we
read in order to take away certain information from the texts. Aesthetic reading involves
“live through experience”. In these types of reading, the purpose is not just to extract
information, but to be engaged with the text. We get engaged with the text by feeling happy,
sad, upset, excited, or whatever the case may be while we read.
Now, the book will not tell us to get engaged in the feeling. The reader chooses the stance.
One can read a book, say Juloos by Premchand, and learn about Indian Independence. But at
the same time one can get engaged with the text in a subjective way. But, as Rosenblatt says,
the primary purpose of reading poetry is to have a life through experience. It should be
remembered that the virtue of the text is not based only in efferent reading or aesthetic
reading. We need both. In the classrooms, she says, we have forgotten about aesthetic reading
and just attempt to extract information all the time. Please recall the earlier example, where
the teacher asked the student what kind of business Louis Braille’s father had. Which aspect
of reading is she focussing on? She, through her questions, has somewhere disregarded
completely the feeling or the experiences we had while reading the text. Many of us read for
enjoyment. Such questions only deprive us of that enjoyment.
To sum up, let us look at some implications of the Reader Response Theory. During this
presentation we have looked at what we should not do. Now, what are some of these things
that we need to do? One of the most important and urgent things that can be done by us
teachers, librarians, etc. in the teaching programme is to start talking to children. We should
also start conducting research on what reading means. Sincere attempts should be made not
to impose definitions that apply to adults on children. Reading happens quickly and
unexpectedly and we need to find different ways of doing research to find out when it happens.
Many of my students have tried out many novel ideas in working with children; we should
pay attention to some of this micro level research. We need to put in a lot of effort to know
not just policies and negotiations with the government, but also about what children as readers
tell us about the act of reading. Another important issue is that aesthetic reading should not
be forgotten in the classroom. Teachers can read stories in the classroom and share the
experience of reading, and should take care not to ask questions which would disengage
students from the text. It is important to learn how to talk about literature. There is a large
body of work which deals with just what kind of talk takes place. We can learn from the
conversations that take place in our natural surroundings. We need to listen to people when
they talk of books or movies. We need to know that we do not ask somebody who has seen a
particular movie, the name of the girl’s parents. We talk about how we feel about the movie,
what we liked or disliked. We can remember to learn from all these conversations and bring
what we have learnt to our classrooms. We can have a talk where we talk both outside of the
reader and the text, because, as Rosenberg says, there is always a reader to make that text
real.
Thus, various kinds of strategies have to be developed to promote these kinds of talks. It will
be tough, but it can be done. We can also think about using a variety of texts in the classroom.
NCERT and the SCERTs have tried to use authentic texts which make the situation better.
However, teachers can also contribute by bringing stories from texts outside the prescribed
texts and not just leaving them in the corner, but sharing the stories with students. It is the
need of the hour that we start paying attention to children as readers and not just on the
materials which we make available.
Discussion
Dr. Jindal, Delhi Univeristy: How should the issue of reading be dealt with in cases of dyslexic
children or visually impaired children? Do the related institutes give any special sessions and
training regarding the issue?
Manish, NEG Fire: My first question is that while both the speakers have stressed the agency
of the reader, what about the cultural embeddedness of a text. Earlier there was emphasis
only on the text, then later, on the author, and today, on the reader. But in the process of
simply emphasising the reader, we are missing out this triad, which is involved in the act of
reading. Secondly, there are certain texts which are not just culturally embedded, but the
reading of them may involve certain kinds of violence to a group of readers. How does one
negotiate with those kinds of violence in the process of reading?
Habibul Rehman Khan, Libarian, Raham Institute Senior Secondary School, Aligarh: How
do we attract students to the school library in the library period?
Anjali: There are two questions. When we talk of the reader constructing the meaning of the
text, is there a range, or is there a negotiation that needs to take place between coming closer
to the author’s meaning? This is the debate that we have as language teachers between a total
interpretation for the reader who otherwise can have any interpretation for coming closer to
the text. The other question is, is there a role for the adult facilitator, whether the language
teacher or the librarian, in understanding levels of children’s facility with language and reading?
Or should it be left to children and their own choice to select and interpret? Is there a mediator’s
role?
Manohar, ICICI Centre for Elementary Education: My first question is to Prof. Janisch.
Regarding the anticipation guide and the KWLL method that you talked about, aren’t you
somewhere trying to streamline the thought of the students according to certain methods or
tables which you draw? Doesn’t it just limit the kinds of reflection, which students might
themselves want to have, about the subject or the topic, which they want to explore further?
Somewhere the exploration seems to get limited in the process, and the subjectivity, which
Dr. Shobha Sinha was talking about, also gets limited. The second question is to both speakers.
We talk about thinking and human subjectivity while reading, but are we also engaging the
students in the process of thinking about thinking, something which Caroline said and I
would like her to kindly elaborate on that. Do students also engage in the process of thinking
about thinking? What are they thinking if they know, say about dowry? Are we thinking about
that process? I think that will help in unravelling a lot of mysteries.
Dr. Upender Reddy, State Pedagogy Coordinator, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Andhra Pradesh:
The question is with regard to the theories of the reading process: Schema theory and the
Metacognition theory. I understand the role of a schema in the process of reading but is the
knowledge of Metacognitive theory necessary for the teacher to promote reading?
Mrs. Bajaj: How do we strike a balance between a subjective interpretation and being objective?
Questions to Dr. Shobha Sinha
Dr. Kuldeep Singh, Punjab: I agree that our teachers do not pay enough attention to the
aesthetic or emotive reading of literature. To some extent, the fault does not lie only with the
teachers. In teacher training courses, only issues on language related skills such as reading and
writing are taught. There is no course on teaching literature. Secondly, unfortunately, in schools
in Punjab, even Social Science teachers are given the responsibility of teaching English literature
or language. I would like your opinion on how teachers in such a situation do justice to the
teaching of literature.
Prachi, Delhi: What kind of assessment does the teacher do of the child’s reading in the
context that you are talking about?
Neeta, Room to Read: Mine is not a question but more of an observation. Basically, when we
talk about the Schema theory, I think there is difference between unavailability and selection
of schemas. There is one more process which intervenes. Sometimes schemas are available in
a form which is different from what is expected from a child. It could be an interface between
the home language and school language. The concepts are there but they are in a form which
is different from what is expected by the teacher. That also may play a crucial role in the
selection of a schema and may be important in how we read, what we read and what we
understand when we read.
Questions to Prof. Janisch
Prasoon, Vidya Bhawan: Could you
elaborate on the Metacognition theory in
the context of the example of the text
about the ocean and the dessert.
Sangam, Delhi: What is the difference
between predicting and activating prior
schema before reading the text? Also, how
do I conduct a think-aloud reading
technique in the class? I tried in one of
my classes, but the result was a total
chaos. Can you suggest a way to introduce this technique in schools like the MCD government
schools of India where students are not exposed to this kind of reading technique?
Vijay Kumar: Is there any similarity between the reading process and the writing process?
Does the same schema work?
4 October 2008
Session 2
Chairperson: Dr. Shobha Sinha
Speakers: Parul Sharma and Alok Rathore, Care India
Anjali Narona and Gopal Rathi, Eklavya
Parul Sharma
Let us start with a brief introduction about Care. Care is involved in issues related to girls’
health, women’s health, education, disaster management and overall social development. It
has been working with the government in India for last fifty years. Initially, Care functioned as
a food relief agency when there was a shortage of food in India. Gradually, working with
government in capacity building of the government personnel, making government programmes
reach the public, in a way working as a partner of the government, Care has now established
itself as a technical support agency. Presently, Care is functioning in fifteen states in India on
issues like HIV, health, girl’s education and many more.
We are here representing Care India, Lucknow, and we focus particularly on girl’s education.
Our presentation has three parts. The first part will introduce the kind of work we are involved
in and our goals. The second part of the presentation will deal with the efforts that have been
made to achieve our goals. The last part will look at the changes that need to be made in our
work. Though Care has been working on girls’ education for about ten years, initially it was
more like a laboratory experiment with programmes at the level of pilot studies. It has been
in the last three years that we have started working on the issue on a large scale. Today we
will discuss the changes we have observed in the last two to three years.
Though the programme is called Girls’ Education Programme; it covers both boys’ and girls’
education issues. However, the main focus has been on girls because, as compared to boys,
girls are more underprivileged in our society. We try to increase their participation in school
and the curriculum with the hope of enhancing various opportunities. The three main strategies
which are employed in the process are as below:
− Strengthen the formal system of education
− How to link to school the school dropouts, who had to leave their schools due to
some or the other reasons and are in the age group of 12-13 years, especially girls.
− How to bring in community to participate in the education system.
The work which we have carried out can be divided into three categories. The first is the
learning enhancement programme which is underway in about three hundred and fifty
government primary schools which are located in the villages in five districts in Hardoi, a
block of Lucknow, and other districts in the city. In these districts, the female literacy rate is
very low, particularly in Bahraich, Balrampur and Shravasti districts and the student-teacher
ratio is 1:100. Secondly, we are involved in working with Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalays,
a scheme of Government of India in which schools are opened in academically backward
blocks where the female literacy rate, along with the overall literacy rate is very low. These
are residential schools which provide school education to girls for Classes VI and VIII. Out
of about three hundred such schools in Lucknow, Care is now working with fifty schools.
Thirdly, Udaan is a programme which functions on relatively smaller scale. An experiment
was conducted in Hardoi district 10 years ago when Care was working with conventional
schools. It was observed that 12 to 13 year old girls who were either early drop outs or have
never been able to attend schools showed willingness to be linked to schools. Inspite of their
willingness to do so they were now hesitating for several reasons: fear of being laughed at to
go to Class I at that age, teachers’ unfriendly attitude towards them which is a very likely
reaction of the society, parents’ permission to let them spend five to six years to complete the
primary education.
This is where Udaan came into the picture. It was started as a bridge course, which was a
residential course of eleven months. This course aimed at developing basic mathematical
abilities, language abilities and some social learning. Social learning refers to the learning
about society; for example, about the Panchayat, issues related to health, what is the structure
of the family, the prejudices or biases in the families and society, etc. Considering that these
girls have had some experience with life but have had little or no formal education, the course
was designed in such a way that the girls would be taught by relating course material to their
experiences and surroundings.
Later, Care started working with government schools when it was observed that in these
schools, there was no desirable environment of education in the school. There was a huge
gap between the teachers and the students as teachers were unable to relate themselves with
the student community. We would not go into the details of why that was happening, whether
it was the fault of teachers or the management, etc. The important point is that it was very
difficult to sustain the students in the school. A kind of reluctance to come to school was
observed among the students. Students could be seen wandering in the periphery of the
school but they would not enter the school. Now, if we look at the environment of the
schools, one could see that the set up was not child-centric. Moral slogans like ‘Always speak
the truth’, ‘Respect your elders’, etc. were seen on the walls of the schools. It is not difficult
to understand that a child who has just started going to a school would feel uncomfortable in
such an environment. Students disliked coming to school. They could be seen crying. But
they could also be seen punished. Though they would leave home to go to school, they would
avoid doing so. Seeing this situation, we have made some attempts to improve the situation
in the schools though we cannot claim to have been successful in all our attempts.
During the assembly sessions the students would sing the national anthem, recite two or
three prayers and proceed to their classes. It was felt that these sessions could be made more
interesting for students if they could be developed as collective learning forums where the
teacher tells stories to students, students play with each other, etc. This would probably
make the children look forward to coming to school. Students can participate in activities
where they would sing songs, recite poems etc. They can also have story sessions and singing
sessions where the activities are carried out with expressions. These activities involving linking
of words to expressions can also help language development. So, taking up these activities
was one effort made in the schools to bridge the gap between the teacher and the student and
bring them closer. Another situation which could be seen was that the functioning of the
school system did not take into account the development of the student-teacher relationship.
Even though there were teachers who were willing to be part of the student community and
interact with them, they were restricted by the system to do so. The pattern of monitoring in
the school was dependant on the completion of the teaching of the syllabus before the exams.
The children too could never muster up the courage to go forward and interact with the
teachers. So, we also took up some efforts to make these kinds of situations better. It is a
common misconception in the society that girls are not good at Science and Mathematics. In
this regard too, we made some attempts to do away with such prejudices by developing a
scientific temperament among the girls, particularly in the Kasturba Gandhi Girls Schools
and in other schools as well.
An overall attempt was made for associating the available materials to the teaching-learning
process. Strengthening the library system was also a part of this effort. We are working with
about 77,000 children at the primary and upper primary levels in Kasturba Gandhi Schools.
My co-presenter, Alok, who is especially involved with the Kasturba Gandhi School
programme, will talk about his team.
Alok Rathore
As Parul has mentioned, we are working with 50 Kasturba Gandhi Schools. At the field level,
there is the academic support coordinator who regularly visits the schools and provides inputs
to the teacher in different ways, such as via workshops, trainings, demonstrations of lessons
and helping in the use and development of TLM, a scientific temperament, etc. We also tried
to make the morning assemblies, which were earlier carried out in a mechanical fashion, more
interesting and lively. Care has also provided two hundred books for the libraries in each of
Kasturba Gandhi Schools and alloted two to three periods every week as library periods.
Teachers utilize these books in different ways in the library periods, and we facilitate the
teachers in that the effort. Similar efforts are being made in primary schools as well.
Parul Sharma
All these steps are taken up by Care directly. Other than this, Udaan, a programme related to
girls’ education mentioned earlier, is carried out in partnership with an NGO called Sarvodaya
Ashram. About hundred girls come to Udaan every year and 90 per cent of them continue
their studies by enrolling in Classes VI and VII after their primary level under Udaan. Under
this programme, they are also taught other skills, e.g. cycling, how to communicate with their
parents and elders about thier studies, etc. Intensive interaction with the parents of the girls
is also carried out to develop a positive attitude in them towards their daughters’ education.
An important aspect of our approach is the education of the children and improvement of
the environment of teaching and learning by developing the student-teacher relationship. We
strive to create a situation where children would be involved and participate in the overall
teaching-learning process. We also attempt to establish a relationship between the schools
and the community where parents would come and enquire about the education of their
children.
In this regard, some forums called ‘community seminars’ have been developed where teachers
share with the members what the children have learned and what their problems are. For
example, when some children do not bring their books, notebooks, and pencils with them, or
when some bring their elder siblings’ books, etc, it becomes very difficult for a teacher to find
a continuity in what was taught the previous day and what was taught that day. Such kinds of
issues are presented by the teachers to the parents during such forums. Parents, in turn, also
raise such type of issues. Parents also raised issues such as lack of punctuality of the teachers,
impositions like repetitions of some writings as a form of punishments, etc.
Integration of libraries is also a major component of our approach. When we started our
programmes, there were some books available in Kasturba Gandhi Girls Schools which were
found to be too complex to be given to those children. The books did not prove useful for
them since some of the girls, though they had passed Class V, did not have enough ability to
read or write or understand the meanings of the texts. This is one problem which we faced.
We talked with their teachers and the management of the Kasturba Gandhi Schools and
District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) principals so that children were provided
books which were of their level. The government primary schools in the rural areas did not
have books. Most of the schools we are involved with come under the NPEGEL (National
Programme for Educating Girls at the Elementary Level) and some books came to these
schools though the programme. However, these books were also found to be not of the
desired level. And those books which are appropriate are kept locked up.
During this seminar we have seen the topic of the library in different lights and have dealt
with it in different ways, and maybe a few things would get repeated. Our perspective of the
library is this: the library can help in the language development of a child; children learn to
read. They have the ability of contextualizing and understanding the meaning of a word
when they find it while reading a story even if they do not know the meaning of the word.
The use of books can develop the imaginative and creative abilities in children. They get
acquainted to various types of texts such as essays, biography, satire, poems etc. The curriculum
can be realized by not just considering the prescribed textbooks but also the other books in
the library. Many of the books in the library could be used even while follow the syllabus and
they would facilitate the child’s learning process. Many reference books were also made
available for teachers which can help them in their lectures and conducting activities in the
classroom.
It is commonly believed that viewing of TV or animation films adversely affects the imaginative
power of children which is not the case with reading books. For example, when they read a
story, they imagine and form certain images of the characters in the story. In the case of
watching TV or animation programmes or computers, this work is done for them and thus the
development of imaginative power in the child gets hampered. Going beyond the text books
gives pleasure to children. They satisfy their curiosity when they see different books with
various types of texts. Other reasons such as securing high marks, avoiding a scolding, or a
punishment, etc. will not develop an interest in self-learning in a child as much as reading for
fun and pleasure would do. Unless their interest becomes the central point in their activities,
children would not develop the habit of reading.
Further, we see that children get exposed to various thoughts, various environments, etc. at
different levels. For a child in Class I, a lecture on thoughts may not acquire much importance.
But, if he gets exposed to a story of, say the southern region of India, he would certainly be
acquainted with the environment of the area. Such types of texts will help in the emotional
development of the child and make him/her sensitive to what is different from his surroundings
as he/she tries to identify with the story. Few considerations are, therefore, necessary in the
selection of the text. We have not reached a stage where children have selected the books
they would like to read. Till then, we have tried to select a collection of books which are
diverse in subject and form. Diversity of subject would mean that books are chosen from
various disciplines, such as science fiction, science, social science, history, language, etc.
Diversity of form refers to the different types or nature of texts, such as, an essay, an
autobiography, a travelouge etc. We can not exactly define what kind of content of a text
would be appropriate for children of a certain age group. We select a book which we assume
would be interesting for the child on the basis of child’s previous learning experiences, age,
and level of education. Thus, according to these factors, we take care of content, font size,
size of the book, colors, pictures, illustrations, etc. of a book. Though we can take the
society and its reflection into consideration when we select a book, we try to avoid texts
which reflect stereotypical views and attitude, prejudices, bias, etc. For example, a line in a
story in a certain book says, ‘Despite being a girl, she was brave’. This wrongly implies that
bavery is a quality of boys and not of girls. Here is another example: ‘Despite being poor, he
was honest’.
There are also reading materials for teachers as well as parents who could come and read the
books. We also believe that library is not related to just a place or space. Library is a concept.
In certain cases a school would comprise only two rooms. It becomes difficult in such schools
to have a room allotted as the library. However, a teacher can help in building a library in a
sense by somehow making reading materials available to the students, bringing not only books
but charts, CDs, puzzles, etc. to the classroom. Teachers were given training about how
different books can be used to develop a particular competency along with text book. For
example, in order to teach girls, say in the age group of, 12 to 13 years, about idioms, one can
tell them a story which contains idioms, or they can also be given an assignment to find out
idioms in a book. Or if one is dealing with much younger children, one can ask them to find
out the words starting with the letter ‘a’ from the books in the library, or there can be a
discussion on the pictures in the library books. During the assembly sessions now, a teacher
tells stories even to children who have yet not learned to read so that they could develop an
interest in reading. Reading alone, and silent reading, were also promoted. Experiments were
also conducted by referring to the science books in the library. Attempts were also made to
find out how the library is used by the children. They were told stories or poems or given
books to read from the library and then asked what they read in their own language representing
a story through pictures. They were also asked to understand the environment given in the
text and engage in discussions. Sometimes teachers would tell them stories and asked questions
such a, what else could have happened if a certain things did not happen in the story? What
would have the students done if they were in place of a certain character in the story? Did
they like the story or not and why, etc. This exercise helps in improving the articulation skills
and expressive power of children.
A committee of students was formed in which teachers and children together managed the
library. Efforts are also being made on how to handle a situation when the library is misused.
The responsibility of taking care of the library is given on a rotation basis. It has been observed
that some teachers bring caste or sex into consideration while delegating tasks to children.
For example, the task of serving food would be given to girls while taking care of the materials
for games to boys. Or the responsibility of managing the books is mostly given to the Brahmin
children and not to children from other castes. So, care has been taken that such prejudices
and bias are avoided and discontinued.
We emphasize the concept of library during our teachers training programmes. Teachers have
started using the library books. They are also engaging in group activities with children, initially
in small groups and later in larger groups. One problem which was noticed was that teachers
had started demanding books for themselves to read. Some teachers would not give the
books to the children. Instead, they would hand over the book to another teacher when they
are done with it. We talked to such teachers about the problem, and children also started
pressurizing. Even parents started demanding the books. The girls of Kasturbha Gandhi
School had developed a play on this incident. We would like to cite a case with regards to
these issues. In a school called Dan Mandi in Hardoi block, a girl student started taking books
home. Though taking books home was not allowed, it was later allowed after children as well
as our staffs started pressurizing the teachers. The mother of that girl, though not very educated
started taking interest in the books, she started looking at the picture and read a little, asked
her daughter about something in the book, and so on. Ultimately, she also started demanding
books for herself. And we have many other cases like this. And children get immense support
and their chances of continuing their education increase if they get an atmosphere to learn at
home. Such type of atmosphere has been developed in many places.
Another incident we would like to share is about the Kasturba Gandhi School in Chitrakut.
Students in this school belong to a tribal society and they have never tasted a cold drink, or
ever have rasgulla. During a visit, when they were given rasgullas in the lunch packet, they
threw it, because they did not know what it was. A visit to Nehru Planetarium in Allahabad
was organized for these students. There a group of ten girls contributed one rupee each and
with this amount they purchased a book. It is a pleasant sight to see that instead of getting
tempted to buy clothes, eatables, etc. the girls bought a book which was available in the
library cum book store in Anand Bhawan of Nehru Planetarium. We would like to conclude
by saying it’s a good beginning for us that the concept of library is establishing itself in the
minds of the children and is not limited to a room.
Anjali Narona and Gopal Rathi, Eklavya
Anjali Narona
Eklavya has basically been known, as an organization working in curriculum and material
development at elementary school level. We have had very varied experiences over the last
more than 20 years in both in school and out of the school libraries. So, one section of the
presentation would be on classroom libraries and reading. The other section of the presentation
would be on the out of school libraries that we run in our centers and with the communities
outside the school.
We look at libraries, both in school and outside school, as a space for children to exercise
their choice. This element of exercising choice is an important aspect considering that in our
society, particularly in the class rooms, children rarely get opportunities to express themselves.
It is also a social space for intellectual interaction and developing familiarity with books and
issues.
Two aspects which we have been focusing on since the last 15 years is reading to learn and
reflect through library books, and make libraries a part of language development program. A
large part of this presentation concerns these two aspects. Working on text book and curriculum
development is a factor which motivated us to focus on libraries and reading. The need was
felt to make accessible other books to children, particularly, ones with the semi-literate, non-
literate backgrounds when we began to realize that children’s acquisition of knowledge was
being affected by the limitation of time that we have during the school year. This limitation
of time affected questions of choice about the kind of information, or text, or activities that
we can give to children. Thus, library centers were started at Harda, Hoshangabad, Pipariya
and Devas.
These libraries run for two to four hours after school hours everyday. The conception that we
usually have when we use the word library is that it is a place where the books are stocked
and people come and issue books, or read for a while, and issue a book and return it when
they have read it. But, very soon, we realized that just the presence of books was not enough.
Children who were not able to read also came and looked at the books. A little child who
could not read, would pick up a colorful and attractive books to look at. However, it did not
continue for long as they would soon get bored and alienated. So, the need for the hands on
activity was felt where an adult or an older peer organized activities like origami, science
experiments or craft works to engage some of these children. This happened at least once a
week if not twice or thrice a week.
So, the conception of a library we now have, both in schools and outside, is a combination of
a library and an activity center. It was also felt necessary that the library should remain open
regularly throughout the year. There were times when we had to shut down the library for a
week or ten days because the librarian was not a full time employee and was not available all
the time. That broke the whole rhythm of what was happening, making it problematic to get
the children back to the libraries. The other motivation for starting the libraries was we began
our primary education program. This is related to the need to take the language outside the
language text books and to make available authentic texts for the children where they would
be able to engage with the text at different levels. Thus, a set of library books were incorporated
in our language development programme in the primary schools.
The situation is much better today. At that time, there were hardly ten to twenty titles, which
children could tackle on their own. Children’s published books in India were very sparse at
that time around late 1980s. But, we could still supply the library books and get the children
engaged with them. Today, we have a variety of children’s libraries in schools with the
intervention of Eklavya. These are classroom libraries in the primary and middle schools.
There is also the use of library books to support emergent literacy in pre-primary schools as
well and in about one hundred and fifty Shiksha Protsahan Kendras which are community
based learning support centers in some interior villages of the plains as well as the small hills
in Madhya Pradesh and the tribal areas. We also have the village and ‘mohalla’ libraries which
are small libraries run by volunteers and the libraries at the Eklavya Centers. Today, we will
focus on the issue of school libraries and classroom libraries and raise some of the issues
which have also been probably shared during this seminar. In Bhopal, we had taken up the
library programme and a wall paper programme as an intervention in two government and
Primary schools, to initiate teachers and create an awareness that some things need to change
in the pedagogy of teaching and learning to read and also teaching and learning of languages.
By late 1990s, we had felt that criticizing text books and suggesting change and substitution
of textbooks would be faced with defense and doubts. So, we tried to intervene through a
library programme. We discussed with the teachers and principals of the schools the kind of
abilities that children can develop through a library programme. We attempted to drive home
the point that a language can not be taught by a text book alone, as text book teaching of a
language actually limits understanding of the language severely.
When this program was started many people shared this experience that in the government
schools, books have been provided during operation blackboard and the District Primary
Education Programme (DPEP), but, teachers have not been oriented in terms of how to use
these books. Though primary schools have books, they do not have the post of a librarian.
They also were not aware of ways to use or replenish the books. As a result, it was found
that, down the ten to twelve years, those books were gathering dust in one corner somewhere
among broken chairs and tables. When we examined those books it was found that many of
them were inappropriate for the students of the primary schools age groups. Another reason
for such a situation is that there was no specified time available in most schools where the
library books can be used. Even though there is a room with books, that was considered a
library, the logistics of taking a class of children to the library and spending time there leaves
very little time available to children to access the books.
Usually children’s books are found to be very thin and they are kept stacked in the almirah.
This means that these books are kept almost out of the view of children. Thus, it becomes
a tedious task to take a book and keep it back and take out another one. So, we decided to
work on relocating whatever library books were available in the class rooms and also sort
them according to the age groups of the children. Now, the classroom libraries bring books
much closer to children. Classroom activities with books have become a possibility and this
has greatly enhanced the language curriculum. The language teachers use the library books
anytime and incorporate their use into the language curriculum. The important aspect of
considering the choice of the children is also paid due attention by bringing books of the
children’s choice into the classroom.
The classroom library and wallpaper program constitute getting the books from the almirahs
and categorizing them. If enough number of books is not found, we supplement the books
with fifty to one hundred books, which are passed from one school to the other on rotation
basis. We also negotiated a library block period as the time to the period is just twenty five to
thirty minutes. Since there are no librarians in the schools, the language teachers, such as the
Hindi teachers, are made to get involved in the teacher training programmes. A small set of
books are also provided which can be further circulated among the classes on rotation basis,
and on-site support is also given to the teachers in using these books. Our colleagues visit the
schools after the training programmes and come back with the issues that the teachers raised.
During the teacher training programmes, teachers work with a set of books which we put
across for them and discussed the appropriateness of the books for each class. This is an
issue which will probably need more discussion. They also get involved with various kinds of
activities that children get engaged in with the books. We realized, then, that activities related
to books in terms of helping children to get interested in books needed more focused attention.
Attention was paid to a lot of details regarding this issue. For example, teachers were also
trained to be sensitive to a simple but important way of holding a book and showing them to
the children in order to show them pictures, diagrams, etc. One very popular activity across
our libraries is the enactment of stories by children. They develop skits or plays based on the
stories in the library book, and with masks or puppets, or on their own.
Children also select books themselves and read. After they have read the book, they bring up
issues and discuss what they understood and did not understand, and what they liked and did
not like. These are, thus, very different from classroom discussions.
In the rural Shiksha Protsahan Kendras, children read books and draw on the basis of what
they read in the books. Another thing which we realized later is that activities like origami or
any craft activity done with an adult explaining the instructions does not encourage children
to read and understand the instructions. So, later, texts from books were given to them and
they were asked to read the instructions. Then, they would read out the instructions and then
discuss what needed to be done and in what way. This discussion is important and very
different from reading a story. Here, they have to read to do something. We realized that there
is huge difference between these two kinds of texts. This activity is now a regular activity of
our library programme.
We have also started the wallpaper program which is an expression of children’s creativity.
Usually wallpaper in the school is done by two or three children in the class which is then
displayed. This is a regular activity done fortnightly. Each child of a class is involved so that
there are four or five wallpapers produced in the class. Expressions in different genre e.g.
interviews, advertisements, drawings, wall newspapers feature articles are written by referring
to the library books, etc. and are found on the wall papers. Children also write book reviews
of the books they have read on the wallpaper. This is an excerpt of such a review of a story
called ‘Nirali Poshak’.
l¬ :¬¬| (ºi: ¤ r l¬ :n·i (·i :¬i· l(ªii¤i n¤i r ¬i :-iºni ¬ ·i| (·i r+ :n·i (·i ¬i(-| ¬·i|
ri r| ·r| ¬¬ni l¬¬¬ ¬¤· ¬il( ¬·¤ r+ ¬iº ¬·si: ·i| l¬ªi| r l¬ :¬ ¬ri·| - (r ¬i :n·i (·i
r l¬ ¬¬¬| ¬ªºn ¬ ¬·¤ ¬i-i· l-¬ n¤+ ¬i: ·i| ¬i- ¬i¬i·| ¬ - ¬º ¬¬ni ·ii+ (r ¬¤· ¤r·
¬º l¬¬| ¬| ·i| ”ii(| - ”iiil-¬ ri ¬¬ni ·ii+
It has been usually felt that the library has no role to play in the context of the pre-reading
nursery class children. Nonetheless, we have worked on the use of the library for the Nursery
classes. We have seen that kids also now treat the library books with care. We find that when
a teacher tells a story to these children of three and half years of age, they remain engrossed
and do not play around with the books, tearing them or throwing them. The teacher involves
them in discussions about what they liked or did not like, or whether they want to change
over to books. These books are then related to activities like black board writing and matching.
Another activity which is now a regular one in the pre-primary level which is a pre-literacy
level can be related to what Prof. Janisch talked about: the prior schema that a child brings to
a text and this is explicated in the classroom. Children dictate the texts and the teacher writes
them down. Thus, each child would have a journal. Then, the child illustrates what has been
written based on her own experience.
We find some limitations with the programmes when we look at them today. We have been
providing only about fifty to seventy books in each class room which may not be enough. We
have also not been able to provide non-fiction literature in an appropriate and an ample
amount. Only very basic reading comprehension and reading activities have been done. We
also have to work much more on the relationship between the school library and the classroom
library.
Gopal Rathi: Eklavya is based in Madhya Pradesh, and Pipariya in Hoshangabad district of
Madhya Pradesh is one of its centers. Kishor Bharti, an institution near Pipariya used to run
a library called the Bhagat Singh Library and a cultural center. That library was closed down
in 1991 after which Pipariya Eklavya centre started a library with some books and magazines.
Many people who were associated with this library and are now working in other parts of the
country and abroad have formed a group called Pipariya Srijan Group. This group has developed
its website and remained constantly in touch with each other through the internet. They also
celebrated the Eklavya silver jubilee occasion with the Eklavya library last year when they
came home for Diwali. The juniors were also given career guidance and were assured of
support when they come to the big cities for their career. The films that we are now showing
you are not made in a formal manner. They are video shots taken by our friends and
representatives at different times.
[Viewing of a compilation of video clippings shot infromally by friends and representatives
of Eklavya regarding their experiences at the Pipariya Eklavya centre library]
Eklavya library and activity center opens daily from 5 pm to 9 pm. Adolescent as well as
younger children come in large numbers. Approximately sixty to seventy people, most of
them children, come to the library every day. This number increases on certain occasions.
Anjali Narona
Lastly, we would like to point out some of the issues we are still grappling with as a result of
working with libraries both in school and outside. We often carry out the same kind of work
within the school, as we do outside. So, there is a need to reflect regarding the overlapping as
well as distinct roles required to play for the two. Some other issues that we need to look into
are as follows:
– What should be the role and nature of libraries at various levels of school education
and should it be changed?
– Should the connection with the school library be different according to different levels?
– Should there be a class and school library at all stages?
– What should be the role of librarian, the language teachers and other teachers in
developing reading?
– Is it enough just to issue the books?
– What should be the role of class and outside class libraries?
Another important issue is whether we should look at the criteria for organizing and
categorizing books according to age levels. Till now, we have been using broad categorizations
according to certain developmental and literary criteria. It needs to be asked if that is the
appropriate way.
Discussion
Dr. Kuldeep Singh, Punjab: (To the Chair and all presenters) Our government education
system- the teachers and training courses- seems dysfunctional or rather a dead body. One
organization would come and repair a part of that body, and another comes and repairs
another part, and so on. Doesn’t the situation show that our education system and our teachers
become handicapped and worthless, and we are in some ways encouraging that situation.
Ritu Sharma, Heritage School, New Delhi:(To Eklavya) You have proposed a library cum
activity center, but don’t you think that the activity center would distract children from
reading, They would be distracted and be more inclined towards the activity corner than
reading, and reading does require a bit of a silence. So how do you achieve that?
Neeta, Room to Read: We are also struggling with the issue of selection of books. We have
been talking about stereotypes. As books reflect society, it is possible that stereotypes are
reflected in books. At the same time, we talk about making a child an active learner and an
aesthetic reader, where he would read books as an individual who has his own experiences.
The same book would have different values for different children. We relive our experiences
with the books, and learn to struggle with them. So I feel, selection of books is an issue of a
larger debate. Secondly, as we struggle with questions about what we are replacing in the
schools, it might be agreed upon that we are working for quality improvement of schools. We
are not talking about changing or removing or discarding the structure of the school; we are
together striving to make the school system better.
Manish, NEG Fire: Both these presentations have looked at the library and have presented
two ideas about the library. In the Eklavya presentation and the film which we have seen, we
have seen that the library is seen as a social space as well, where not only children, but
members from the community and the teachers themselves engage as a team in certain
intellectual activities. In the Care India presentation, you have just made a remark that library
for them is not a social space, but a concept and an idea. I fully agree that just having the
library as a social space would not suffice for it to be really functional. But I am just curious
to know if you think that there is a clearly contradictory relationship between school library
being a social space and this. And why does it happen that when it comes to facilities, libraries,
or anything for the marginalized children or for the children who generally don’t get facilities,
that this question of social space or social location becomes a question which can be neglected.
So while for Navodaya Schools you will have all the facilities, when it comes to KGBV Girls,
you will have the minimal facilities. And while you are trying to challenge that, you accept
that the library does not need social space, actually you condone such policies.
Unknown: As we expect from the education system that it makes social changes possible, I
feel that in this context, library is also a cultural activity. When children interact with books,
it certainly has an effect on their world view. Eklavya has been running libraries for a long
time, so there should be a study about what changes have been brought about in the children’s
world view, and the way they perceive the world and their personalities.
Anjali Narona
As far as government schools are concerned, our experience says that in government schools
both students and teachers do not get opportunities, and whenever they get any opportunity,
they do take it to do many things. It was a reasonable question that was raised about how
government policies should be made that can sustain the intervention of any organization; a
education policy which can have libraries and activity center on a sustainable basis. It cannot
be known when the discussion would reach the policy making level, may be in the open
house. In developed countries there are policies and funds for children libraries, school libraries,
and classroom libraries. We also need to move in this direction.
The second question was about activities distracting children from reading. It actually does
not work that way. It is not a separate activity corner which is intruding on the library space.
But the library itself is a venue for the activities on certain days at certain times and it
actually links the some readers who have been kept away from reading because of various
reasons to reading. So, we have tried to balance both the things, both in the class room doing
activities with the books as well as independently, and providing a space for library as well.
In the context of selection of books, I would like to share one experience.
In the book ‘Khilone wala Goda’, a book published by Children Book Trust (CBT). In this
book there is a conflict between a tribal boy and a middle class girl about a doll and toy horse.
At first sight, all of us felt that a character of a tribal boy finding space in children’s literature
is progressive step. Otherwise, we usually find middle class urban children in the stories. We
conducted a workshop and discussed about the resolution of the conflict in that story. The
resolution was that the poor child must give up something she loved for something which is
very crassly made but which the middle class child has. From this whole thing, we understood
that at least this book has the scope to raise sensitive questions.
We were then faced with the question whether or not the book should be included in the list
of selected books? It was decided that we would develop one list for wider circulation in
which we would not include this book, but keep this book in our libraries where we can have
a discussion. It is not possible to evaluate how far we and other organizations were able to
impart such values in the individuals using the library. It may turn out that only ten percent
children were affected by this. But these are the ways from which we know that change have
been brought for the better. Gopal has given examples how career choices got affected, and
how a fraternity of people emerged from the library.
Parul Sharma
When we talk about the social space and the conceptual level, we are saying that wherever
social space is available, it should be utilized. There are so many schools, located in the
villages, which have many extra rooms which are kept locked. These rooms are used as store
rooms. Such a space can be used as a library. As we mentioned, we are working at a block in
Lucknow where there is a restriction of space. Government schools have only two rooms.
The point is that space constraint should not mean constraint of concept. We can not wait for
the time when there would be funds for some space to be used as a library. We have to start
working with whatever space is available.
Dr. Shobha Sinha
One of the things that have come up during the session is that in a library one is not dealing
just with a sheer issue of having funds and space. There are related issues of social background,
community, and parental involvement. There is also the issue of knowledge about reading.
We have begun to realize in this conference that it is not just having materials available that
is important; we have to do something with those materials. Both the groups have shed lights
on this topic and how it has to be taken further.
We can also start documenting responses both by teachers and parents. We do that when we
talk about them in conferences like this. However, they need to be written about, so that
more theories can emerge which we can use in our research.
The issue of selection would come up when there are books and libraries. This issue of
stereotypes, which is related to this issue of selection, is one which will come up time and
again. Of course, there is this ideological aspect represented in the books and we are concerned
about that. But leaving out books just on that count would leave out many books which are
considered great and those which are written by writers who are considered great. We need to
trust our readers and also that they critically read those books. If we do not provide such
books in the libraries, children will encounter them somewhere anyway, like we do. And if we
have the capacity to question those books, we can also be sure that the children too would be
able to do the same. There are innumerable varieties of books and conflicts can arise at any
level. We need to develop critical faculties. As a reader, it is not possible to stay away from
certain thoughts. So, responding to these thoughts and criticizing them is also an important
part of reading.
4 October 2008
Session 3
Chairperson: Prof. Vijaya S. Varma
Presentation: Dr. Pratibha Karanth, Director, The Com DEALL Trust
Title: Read more for better reading skills: the double whammy for the
child with reading difficulties and what libraries can do about it
Contributed papers:
Sanjib Singha and others
Title: Multimedia Application in School Library
Rakesh Mohan Halen
Dr. Pratibha Karanth
I am a speech language pathologist and have been associated with the National Institute of
Mental Health and Neuro Sciences and have also taught at the All India Institute of Speech
and Hearing, Mysore. The Com DEALL Trust is an NGO, started in Bangalore, which caters
to children with autism and other children with communication disorders. This would be
elaborated more as the perspective that this presentation would bring to this conference is
very different from the ones we have listened to so far.
This presentation would be about my experience with adults and children with language
disorders and reading disorders. In the field that I am in, we deal with people who have lost
their reading skills or people who are fluent speakers but have lost their language either
because of a stroke or a head injury or any such brain damage. We also deal with children who
seem bright, capable children but who seem to have a very specific difficulty in learning to
read. From the disorders and the patterns of disturbances that we see in people who are
language users and fluent readers, we try to piece together the core reason for the difficulty
that they are facing, correlate it with the brain lesion, and try and arrive at a model of how the
human brain processes language and reading. Of course, language is the larger picture and
reading, as we see it, is the secondary skill.
Reading disorders per say, as well as reading disorders in Indian languages, assume importance
because the literature that we base our teaching modes on is interventions entirely from
western cultures but more importantly, western scripts and writing systems, and are quite
different from what we do. The impact of it on a brain lesion and the reading disorder and
subsequently the intervention for the same can be quite different.
Let us now look at what is meant by double whammy for the child with reading difficulties
and what the libraries can do about it. We have heard some presentations about people who
are working at the ground level. They talked about how they got children interested in reading
and how that in turn led to better reading and children becoming users of libraries. This is a
well established fact now that, in order to become a good reader, one has to read a fair
amount. And for a child who has a reading disorder, there is a double whammy in a sense that
the very problem he has is that he can not read and there is no way that he can read more and
more in order to become a more proficient reader without informed intervention. So this link
poses a particular paradox for the child with a reading disability.
There are theoretical models of reading: how you convey print to speech. As mentioned
earlier, we see language as the primary mode of communication and reading and writing as a
secondary mode. And, there are theoretical differences as to whether we really learn reading
and writing through our aural/oral mode or by mapping on the print version onto what we
know and what we have internalized about language in what we call the aural/oral mode.
The debates about how does, one learn to read and decode words: is it broken down to the
phonemic level, etc. Our effort has been to try and answer these questions from the patterns
that we see in people who have disorders of reading.
In terms of brain-language relationships, the overall understanding is that it is the left brain
which is the synthetic one, which breaks language down to the phonic level, whereas the right
brain or the right hemisphere does the holistic processing. This is the very broad setting that
we know about language, brain and the reading.
There have been references to what is called word retrieval: in order to be a good reader you
have to be able to retrieve words rapidly. That is, unless you have good word retrieval skills,
you will not become a good reader. When you see an object, you ought to be able to get its
name. When you want to convey an idea, you have to get a name in milli seconds literally. So,
this is one of the prerequisites.
Fluency in language, which was mentioned by Prof. Janisch in her presentation, though alone
is not important, forms an important aspect of learning to read. You need to have a certain
amount of fluency, otherwise you will not be able to function in a class. Similarly, you have to
have a certain amount of fluency in language, in order to be able to interact with each other.
There has been a lot of emphasis on the background knowledge for comprehension. However,
it’s not enough to have the knowledge about the real world. Even before that, you need to
have a certain amount of linguistic knowledge to have reading comprehension because linguistic
knowledge is the medium. In this context, this presentation will focus on the linguistic
knowledge. If one is struggling with the medium, one cannot pay attention to the content.
This is true of reading too.
Syntax and higher level discourse are conveyed through linguistic means which a child learns,
and if the child has difficulty in learning any one of these and has a difficulty in the fluency of
the language too, all of this will affect reading.
It has been now clearly established that children with linguistic disorder (LD) have a less
extensive vocabulary and fewer semantic associations. For example, when I say a word and
ask you to respond with what comes to your mind, you will all respond with twenty thirty
words in a minute. There will be a core commonality among all of you, but there will also be
words that are unique to your own personal history.
Children with LD will also have inefficient strategies for acquiring word meaning. When we
come across a new word, we look at the context and try to guess its meaning. Then, we have
it stored in our brain. When we hear that word again, we try and see if it makes sense if that’s
the token meaning. As compared to their peers, they have difficulties in this process. So
language facility for form and function that develops through elementary and secondary schools
is particularly difficult for children with LD. So it may be a reading disability, but there is an
underlying language deficiency. The history of LD will not be dealt with further but it is
reasonably clear now that just as Orten in 1934 first described it as a language disorder, we
are now back to acknowledging that a deficiency in language acquisition is closely related
with a deficiency in reading disability barring some exceptions.
Syllable awareness is at the basic level. What does the child need to know, when he/she
learns to read? In the western literature, there is a lot of noise about phonemic awareness. By
phonemic awareness, we mean a child’s sensitivity to letters, recognizing their phonetic
components, and then combining them to make words. Now, all the noise about phonemic
awareness in this sense is not particularly relevant to scripts such as ours. Our writing systems
are syllabaries and we learn syllabaries. Thus, we do not need to go down to these levels.
Prof. Krishna Kumar spoke about how in schools we teach our ‘aksharmalas’ as ¬ ¬i l¬ ¬| or
¬ ¬i -i¤i ¬i and ¬ ¬i -i¤i ¬ . Traditionally, because it was alpha-syllabary, it was taught as ¬
¬i l¬ ¬| . It is rote memorised and in our current education system now, rote memorization
has no place. However, in basic learning, it does have a place. Nevertheless, what has happened
over the years is that due to the influence of the western literature where we talk about
breaking down words into phonics, we are now breaking down our syllables into phonemes
artificially. We were involved in a project for NCERT, where we studied children longitudinally
for four years. Irrespective of which method was used the child learnt it in that manner when
he/she was about seven or eight years old. It did not happen with any amount of drilling
before that. And that is a meta-linguistic skill. There is a match between the meta-cognition
that Prof. Janisch spoke about in her presentation and the meta-linguistics that we talk about.
Children go through certain stages of learning at acquiring this, and no amount of drilling is
going to help them to jump those stages. So, there is compelling empirical research in the
western literature. What is worrying is that, just like the teachers are teaching ¬ ¬i -i¤i ¬i and
¬ ¬i -i¤i ¬ and combinations of these, people who will work with learning disabled children
in India when they are learning Indian scripts will start making them phonemically aware and
spend enormous amount of time in assessing phonemic awareness and intervening for
phonemic awareness.
Language is often taken for granted. Various studies and the interaction between psychologists
and linguists have shown that language acquisition is a very long complex process. It is very
subtle over the later years, but it is nevertheless a process that lasts a very long time. And, any
little miss-step can cause child difficulties.
Let us now look at class room discourse: what do you do in a class, particularly as a child goes
to higher levels of discourse like the printed text. It is typically informational, explicit and
abstract. In contrast, the spoken text, which are situation dependent, are not abstract. And
for a child, to move from the latter to the former, is not easy unless he has the linguistic
capabilities. They are achieved through lexical density. These are also characteristics, language
characteristics that are typical of written language. So what the child moves from a context
dependent language where the meaning is clear both through language and the context, to a
situation which becomes increasingly more abstract. Children with LD have difficulties with
movement. So, it is not just at the initial level, they also have difficulties in verbal and analogical
reasoning, they have narrative discourse processing difficulties and their productions are often,
as a result, characterized by the oral style which teachers would not favor. So these are language
characteristics though very difficult, but they help the child to move from language and focus
on information. At the school level, it is totally free of context. When a child enters the
school, there are many things that are happening in the context, which will give him a clue to
what is happening. But as he/she moves on, he/she is dependent on his/her language, to
understand what is going on in the class. And if there is any difficulty in the language, obviously
he/she s not going to be able to learn.
There are other things that language does and plays a role in social discourse and conventions.
We know the difficulties that we face, in addressing people with, for example, ¬i¤ or n . And
if I make wrong choice, it becomes inappropriate in some contexts. Nobody teaches us these
rules, but we learn them socially. What is a teacher to be addressed; what is the tone that you
can use when you talk to a family member; what is the tone that you can use with somebody
you see as socially inferior to you? These are also aspects of language and social discourse.
They are subtle and picked up by children when they are typically growing, but there are some
children, who can have specific difficulty in picking up these aspects of communication.
There are what we call pragmatic skills which include the non-verbal aspects of language. For
example, how close can I go to a certain person: if it is my husband; I would be standing next
to him; if it is my brother it would be a certain distance; if it is a stranger, then a certain
distance is appropriate. We all have had situations, when we felt that somebody has come too
close to us when the relationship is not such that the person can really come physically so
close and we back off. Again, nobody teaches us this. And these are the aspects of the
communication that children with LD have difficulty in learning.
Meta-linguistics is a study of language where you learn to treat the language as a focus of
cognitive reflection. The phrase is ‘thinking about language to use the language to think’.
Now when I came here, I formed a certain idea about this audience: are they students of
speech pathology; are they teachers; are they psychologist, are they my peers from my research
group; and depending on that my discourse will be very different. The way I plan to speak to
you all if I meet one of you having coffee later, the way I interact with you will be very
different from the way I am talking to you now. But unless I do it in this particular manner, the
information that I want to convey to you will not be as effectively conveyed, or at least as I
had planned this talk to be. So there are certain thoughts that we have about language as a
teacher. Even now as I give the talk, I am looking at your faces, and if I see a blank, suddenly,
I change the way I am talking and rephrase in the hope that I will make myself understood
better. We have stopped throwing chalks at children. Instead, we raise our voice, rephrase
things, or we put a trick question to get their attention. All of this is meta-linguistics. At this
very moment, when I am talking about metalinguistics, my brain is governing this whole
situation: me speaking, you, listening (me speaking not only in terms of the broader discourse
sense, but in terms of my semantics, syntax, and phonology). If a breakdown occurs in any
one of these, the communication may or may not break down, depending on how much break
down is there. Simultaneously, I am monitoring myself. So, there is my brain which is as
though standing apart and watching me do all of this and correcting me at the same time.
These are the capabilities that we need to be good learners. It is meta-linguistics that provides
the link for moving children from social to increasingly instructional uses of language.
Let us now look at the communication hierarchy in terms of the development from early
childhood to, say, school and college levels. The non-linguistic part of communication, the
gestures, the facial expressions, the tone of voice in which a baby is crying from which we can
make out if he/she is hungry, angry, or uncomfortable, etc., is very large in infancy. As a child
moves to the primary school level, he/she moves from the non-linguistic to the linguistic part
of communication, where the concern is grammar, articulation, coherence, clarity, etc. At the
high school and college level, the focus is on the meta-linguistics aspect of communication.
These stages can also be found in language learning. In the context of India, there would be
different and complex experiences in this regard. The ones, who come to us because of their
learning or reading difficulty, are middle class urban children. We have to deal with some
issues. The mother tongue of the child in which the child is reasonably capable is being
imposed upon by a different language by employing the second language as the medium of
instruction. This also happens because a lot of the time, the family wants it to be so. Even
the best of schools do not have additional resources though some efforts are being made by
some.
In a bi/multi-lingual context, a child who has never been exposed to English, is suddenly
being brought to an English medium school and is being forced to learn in the language. No
attention is paid to the fact that the language at home and the medium of instruction in
school are very different languages with even totally different writing systems. Our children
are often exposed to and expected to learn two or three different writing systems. Often, the
medium of instruction happens to be the language that the child is not the most comfortable
with. And, unfairly, he/she is expected to learn the language in the language.
Let us now just briefly go into the issue of the script. English and what is considered the
Indian writing system are two different writing systems. In fact, most of the Indian writing
systems come from the same source and they are what we call the alpha syllabaries. The basic
difference is that in English we have a small number of letters and a lot of them stand for two
or more different sounds. Sometimes you can have the same letter represent two sounds, and
sometimes you can have a sound represented by two letters. In Indian languages, there is
some amount of lack of transparency, particularly where the ‘Arkas’ or the ‘Anuswaras’, etc.
are concerned. They are transparent in the sense that the grapheme and the phoneme have a
good correspondence. Now the flip side is that in English, just by learning 26 letters you can
master the writing system. Whereas in Kannada or Hindi or some other Indian languages, you
have to learn the complex visual syllabary. However, both the writing systems have their
advantages and disadvantages. Some have spoken about how there is an evolutionary hierarchy
at play because we have moved from the logographs or the hieroglyphs to the syllabaries and
then to the alphabetic writing systems, implying that the alphabetic writing systems are the
most evolved systems. There is no such thing. They are all writing systems with their inherent
strengths and drawbacks. But for those of us who work with reading, trying to get the children
read better and help them with their reading difficulties, we need to pay attention to and
understand the nature of the scripts before we try to help them.
There is one other issue and that is the nature of the languages vis-à-vis the transparency of
our writing systems. Among the Indian languages, once you learn it, then there is no question
of an irregular word. In fact, the problem with the transparency of the script is that you can
just read without paying any attention to meaning. Here is an anecdote to exemplify: Dr.
Pattnayak, who used to be the Director of the Central Institute of the Indian Languages,
reported that he walked into a school in Orissa one day and asked a little boy to read. To this,
the boy turned around and asked, “You want me to read with the book closed or with the
book open?” That kind of reading that we do where absolutely no attention is paid to the
meaning, but is allowed by our script to do so. This implies that we have to get the child to
pay attention to the meaning. In contrast, the Roman script, for instance, if we are to read the
word ‘read’ as read (the present tense form) or read (the past and past participle form), unless
we pay attention to the context, we don’t know which one is the correct one in that particular
instance. So the very opacity of the script forces you to pay attention to the meaning. So, it’s
not that one script is superior to the other, each has its strengths and weaknesses, and when
children come to us with difficulties, we have to identify the nature of the child’s difficulty
and which script would be better for him. After all, language is the medium and we need to
get this child to gather information to learn. Instead of that, our language policies are governed
by linguistic chauvinism and by what we see as the socio means for social climbing. Of
course, it brings economic returns, and they are not invalid. But they also have to be tempered
by what is scientifically easier for this particular child given that he has a biological problem
to cope with certain issues.
The agglutinative nature of the Indian languages also might be a reason for children having a
lot more difficulties in these languages, particulary the syntax of the language, than perhaps
in English. For example, in words like :¬¬ :¬- :¬¤ :¬¬, a difference in a single phoneme
changes the meaning entirely. In contrast, the English expressions for these words would be
on this, in this, under this, over this. We have two separate words. This example is given in
isolation, but it should be remembered that entire language is influenced by its structure.
Thus, in the case of Indian languages we have to be more careful about the syntax of the
language. For a project for NCERT, we studied for four years a group of forty children who
were taught by two different methods, and neither of them really understood the underlying
structure. When we acquire language, nobody teaches us what a noun is, or what an adjective
is. We had the grammar teacher doing that when we were fourteen or fifteen. Because we are
already familiar with it, we use it appropriately. But when it is given to us in the form of a
rule, it becomes very tedious. The same can be said about the structure of a syllable. The
child without being taught what the structure of a syllable is learns the underlying rules and
becomes sensitive to it with exposure.
We have done a lot of studies on children with learning disabilities with the objective of
making people aware that there can be a language problem with a child. Many people including
my own students who were already in the fifth year of speech language pathology at that time
find it hard to understand this fact. Some of the students who carried out some studies where
they studied the language skills of children of different age levels and compared to that of
their peers and found that they were lagging behind by four or five years. But some of students
failed to see the problems because the children could speak. Of Course, they speak and for
everyday communication there is no difficulty. However, what the students did not pay
attention to while they were studying is that these children have great difficulties when they
have to deal with class room instruction and the abstract level of discourse. This is an issue
we are not very sensitive to because we all have an inbuilt mechanism whereby we address a
child in levels of language which are most comfortable to them. In an exercise which I give to
my students, I ask them if the language of a two year old is very different from that of a
twelve year old. They do agree that they are different but they do not seem to know in what
ways. Then, they are asked to get language samples from children of different ages. When
they see the difference, they become sensitive to it.
As mentioned before, the link between language and LD, is now well established. It is a
phenomenon that manifests itself in different ways in different stages of school years. It is
often the most important factor that leads to the lack of interest in reading and the spiraling
consequence of progressively poorer reading as compared to peers among the learning disabled.
Unless we are careful in noticing the problem we could easily miss it, considering it sets in
and develops very subtly. Libraries can play a role in this situation. We can take some examples
from western literature and also look at what may be more appropriate in the Indian scenario.
We can circumvent this by using information technology which disabled children can also
gain access to.
An example from the western literature is the start to finish library (references required)
which was developed for children with disability. Some of the basic principles are:
– Highlight certain words at a certain stage. Highlighting the words throughout is not
the most important thing. When children have word retrieval difficulties, the words
are highlighted.
– Use set structures which are simplified and straight forward.
– Train the child in literary conventions and real background knowledge, and minimize
the difficulty by supporting challenging text.
These are often done by providing audio books along with the visual ones. And particularly
with languages like English, it is important that you hear the word said correctly. Otherwise
our children are struggling consistently. They also have paper books, with companion computer
and audio books with clear and coherent language.
– Careful selection of idioms and metaphorical language.
– Emphasis, on comprehension and building fluency through repeated exposure.
– Auditory cues: In languages like English, punctuation and indentation are extremely
difficult and unless adequate attention is paid to understand it, the beauty of the text
would be missed. Control vocabulary and phonemic awareness also form important
parts.
In the Indian context, those of us who are tackling with these problems need to think a little
more about what is appropriate for our children. Rather than take the things from published
literature, we need to look at our ground level realities, the languages, the script, the impact
of the mother tongue versus the medium of instruction. There is no simple solution,
unfortunately. But we need to pay attention to each of these factors and arrive at what is best
for a given child.
Discussion
Prof. Amitabh Mukherjee, Delhi University: Do you see instances of children who are in a
bilingual context, and who are struggling with one language, but not struggling with the other
one in the school setting because of the differences in the nature of the two languages.
Dr. Karanth: We do see such instances and I have a few papers on this topic also. I did not use
a lot of the technical jargon, because these may be terms that are not very familiar to many.
We have different sub types of dyslexia: deep dyslexia, surface dyslexia, phonemic dyslexia.
And that depends on the characteristics of the disorder. There are some children who have
great difficulty in reading irregular words and for a child who has that difficulty, English is a
very difficult language, because it is filled with irregular words. And the problem is compounded
because the teacher is not often somebody who has learnt English as it is pronounced. He or
she is also handicapped in this sense but he or she is trying to teach the child. It is not very
conducive for the child to understand and extract the rules of what should be an irregular
word and what should not be. So, he will read ‘listen’ like ‘lis-ten’ and this we call as surface
dyslexia. We have had children who learn three different languages, where English could be
selectively affected to a much greater degree than Kannada or Urdu. Language exemption is
given to these children. We make an effort to counsel the family as to what is the language
that is most suitable for this child. And if he is in English medium school we suggest that the
child is put in a Kannada medium school because he can always catch up with English, but he
does not need the extra baggage of being an LD child through his formative years. He should
thus be allowed to enjoy his learning and reading. And these children sometimes make the
effort to learn this additional language too. We need to have some sanguine decisions from
the families based on these factors.
Dr. Jindal, Delhi University: The issue of dyslexia would be taken to the national level.
Parents could go and approach psychologists, psychiatrists, etc. This problem has been
sensitized and popularized thus creating awareness by Aamir Khan’s Taare Zameen Par because
the message reached the masses. NGOs such as yours should work at a larger level and see to
it that awareness is created through newspapers and other media, voluntary services, etc.
Some service through the NGOs should come through in primary and secondary schools
where the child suffers to a great extent from various pressures such as peer pressure, parental
aspirations, etc.
Dr. Karanth: I fully agree with you. Though in cities like Bangalore there are facilities available,
such as LD clinics, and some schools, which have resource room for children with LD, it is
nowhere near addressing it in its entirety. And, there are people, who are making effort, but
not in a large enough extent. The public awareness that Taare Zameen Par has created is a
good move from where we can take the issue further. Unfortunately, the film conveyed the
wrong message that in the course of a song every thing is set right, which unfortunately is not
true. The nature of LD changes and it is not as simple and straight forward as we thought it
was.
Unknown: It is very difficult to get to the correct pronunciation of words of a language.
When an Englishmen learns Japanese at a later age, there are certain words that he can never
pronounce correctly and vice versa. And, it is said that there is a particular area in the brain
for language which gets atrophied at a particular age. Do you think children should be taught
as many languages as possible, before that area gets atrophied?
Dr. Karanth: It is true that speech perception stabilizes by the age of twelve or thirteen. We
call this the plastic area of brain development after which we really don’t perceive the
differences, because there are no set boundaries for phonemes acoustically; we set it
perceptually. And our hearing gets tuned to those boundaries. So, it is very difficult for us, as
adults to perceive those sounds. The second part of your question: “Should we expose them
to many languages?” When by ‘many’ you mean half a dozen, I would say no. May be two to
three. I do not see any problem, provided they learn it in a natural context without any
pressure. We have all done that. It is only when the pressure comes, then learning language
through formal instructions is extremely difficult. I have known children who are non-literate,
and who know as many as seven to nine languages. And, it does not take away from the brain
cells. The hierarchical evolution theory places the monolingual at the top of the heap which
is not the case at all. We have enough brain cells that we do not use. So, the child can learn
two or three different languages, and if you want your child to learn them, let him learn them
in natural environment. If the child comes with a problem in language development, then we
say, now try and provide him the monolingual environment till he is comfortable in that one.
And then expose him to the others.
Unknown: How much age related tongue twisters, like ‘she saw sea shells at sea shore’ or like
in Hindi, ¤i¤i · ¤i¤| ¬| ¤i(| ¬| … help in speech therapy?
Dr. Karanth: The best age for language acquisition is said to be from birth till twelve years.
And there are different theories that are offered for it. One is what we call the neuronal
connections. By puberty, the neuronal connections are in place and we do not really make a
lot of new connections, we do make some. And this is said to be the period when the brain is
plastic, when it is capable of learning a lot of new things. So if a child is exposed to different
languages during such this age, he will be able to learn the language/ languages like any other
native speakers of the language/languages. Even a Japanese child growing up in Karnataka
among Kannada children will get exactly the same accent as any of the Kannada speaking
children would do. But the same child coming ten years later will have enormous difficulty in
learning the language. So, early childhood up to about twelve to fourteen years is a good age
to be learning languages. That is when pronunciation, syntax, etc are acquired with the native
instinct.
Neeta, Room to Read: You said that fluency is also important for children because children
need to read fluently in order to understand meaning. Are there some strategies that tell us
how adults - teachers or parents - should read to their children or tell stories to the children?
Dr. Karanth: If you look at the audio books that are available, like the ‘Katha Stories’, Girish
Karnard’s series, the Karadi tales, etc. what they infuse in the voice, the narration, etc. are all
important, and that makes them interesting for the children.
Manohar, ICICI Center for Elementary Education: You talked about metalinguistics as moving
from thinking about the language to use language to think. So my question basically reflects
around what happens to the process of thinking in this movement from say, thinking about
language, to using the language to think. What is happening to the process of thinking? And
in this sense, a related question would be, how does the process of thinking itself emerges.
And later on, when we are using the language to think, the initial process is different. And
then language overpowers this whole idea about where thinking itself emerges from.
Dr. Karanth: The last part is a little more difficult for me to respond to, but the way we see it
is that thinking and language have two different routes in infancy. You can separate them. I
often give the example of my daughter. When she was growing up and was about two and a
half years of age, every time lime juice was served to guests in the house, she would get
worked up and demands some thing which we did not know. And then one day she got the
bright idea, and she ran to the kitchen. She wanted the rind of the lime. But she had no way
of expressing the connection between her thought with language. That must be there
somewhere. Those are clear illustrations that you can think without having the appropriate
language for it. But as the two develop, they get bound more and more closely. We can have
thought without language. For example, what happens in art appreciation? One is not always
able to verbalize what one feels. But this business of meta-linguistics, each contributes to the
other by thinking about the language. For instance, scientific writing perhaps would be one of
the most complex forms of writing because you have to write to an audience which has the
same knowledge and everything has to be explicit. So, you have to foresee the questions that
are likely to rise in their minds: How is my write-up self contained, that all of the possible
questions that might emerge in my readership are already answered there.
Vijay Kumar, Delhi: Which one comes first, meaning or language? You mentioned that when
we see something, the name of that object comes into our mind. But, is it not the case that
there is a need that is important to naming business concept. For example, a clock is hanging
on the wall and we do not bother about the time unless the need comes. Secondly, in the case
of an infant baby, semantics plays a greater role. For example, the baby relates food and milk
with colors. Their likes and dislikes are related with colors. And with one single word, they
may relate with different things. For example, pa can be used by the child for his father, uncle
or some other adult in the family or neighborhood.
Dr. Karanth: Firstly, you are taking me to a philosophical level when you talk about, which
one comes first: language or meaning. Philosophical issues were not focused in the presentation.
However, from the language point of view, what I said with reference to semantics and
meaning was with reference specifically to the LD child, who has a difficulty in retrieving
words immediately. So now, when I am speaking like this to you, in order to be able to convey
what I have to say, I have to be able to choose the right words in a very rapid fashion. I am not
talking about the acquisition process. In the acquisition process, children look at objects and
start relating names to them. And what you described in pa is initially papa, and pa is also
something else. These are called the proto words, something that vaguely resembles that the
child names it. And, they go through a period when it is only for that particular object. Papa is
only this particular man. And, then it extends where there are many papas the child sees and
then the child is restricted again to say there is a relationship which makes this person my
papa, and that person is some other person’s papa. So, they go through these stages of
actually using semantic labels for particular meanings.
Prasoon Kumar, VBERC: What is the possibility of learning a new language after the plasticity
of the brain? It has also been said that one does not learn a new language, because the way
you learn language changes after it gets more formalized and the context becomes more
meaningless. This particular question is important when we are dealing with a situation where
we do not have many teachers with the capability to teach English as a second language.
Dr. Karanth: It is not impossible; there are many adults, who learn language. But it is much
more tedious. And if the difference between your native language and the language you are
being taught is a lot, then it becomes very difficult. And I am not talking only about the sound
patterns or syntax. For instance South Indians face difficulties in learning the system of genders
in Hindi. We are constantly making errors in them, unless we learn it as a child. So, it is not
impossible, but the ease with which you learn a language is certainly much greater before you
are twelve.
And the other factor is relatedness. A Kannada speaker would find it much easier to learn
Tamil than Hindi, because Kannada is more similar to Tamil than Hindi structurally. We
make all this fuss about teaching English and then we try to teach them through writing. That
is the worst way in which English can be taught. English needs to be heard and then, you
learn to apply to the writing system.
Sanjeev Singha, Delhi Government School, Delhi
Various efforts have been made by different schools and organizations with issues related to
library, book and reading habit. We have also heard during this seminar about the various
ways that one could employ to develop reading habit of children. This presentation would
also look at the related issues. We would like to look at an alternative for handling the problem
of students not visiting the library and reading books regularly and also not issuing books or
returning them even if they do. We would like to suggest that there should be a shift from the
use of conventional system of the print to the use of information technology and multimedia
application. We find that children who have reservations about reading and are not comfortable
doing so, watch TV. This can be seen as a choice that these kinds of children have made.
Children can also be understood better if we make efforts to understand their psychology.
One way of doing this is through information technology. Such an alternative would also
help us in performing better with regards to our attempts.
Multimedia is a combination of text, sound and video. Children not using the library or
unwillingness to read books can be solved if we involve them what is often called edutainment.
If students can have access to TV in the library, there is all likelihood of their coming to the
library to watch TV. We are also likely not to face any excuse from them about not coming to
the library. Entertainment always attracts students. Thus, using such resources for education
which are means of entertainment in the library would greatly enhance the possibility of
proper use of the library. Such an approach can also be employed in the case of the disabled
children who are deaf or visually impaired. Talking books, newspapers, large screen books,
etc. are also available for such purposes.
Such a step would also be all the more useful in the present scenario where the results of
information explosion are increasing rapidly. Most of the information resources can be followed
and used in less amount of time, unlike in the case of books which involve a fair amount of
time spent in collecting, selecting and procuring them in the library. Use of internet, computers,
DVDs, etc. can be efficient means for children to be exposed to a vast amount of information
and resources. It is a fairly less costly proposal and can very well be within the kind of budget
libraries can be provided with.
It is often seen that most of the students avoid using the catalogue in the library. In such
cases, instead of the catalogue card, we can use a computer using OPAC (Online Public
Access Catalogue), where students can search easily their required books and also know
about the availability of the book. They can also find out the location of the book. Our
schools provide an open access system which is very important in cataloging.
Reference sources such as encyclopedia, dictionary, atlas, etc. are available in CD-ROM.
Some school libraries lack these reference sources basically due to their huge sizes, and even
if they are available, students avoid using them because of their sheer size. Instead of the
printed matter if they are provided CDs it would be more useful. This sort of CD ROM has
the hypertext searching facility so that by just clicking the hypermedia one can gain access to
the resources within a few seconds. Thus, it is time saving as well as portable, can be easily
updated, and editing documents becomes much easier.
Services like e-books and e-journals are available online in Hindi and English too. Other
digital libraries can also be accessed thought the internet. This is the facility of multimedia.
Once such resources-computer, CD ROM drive, readable, writable, speaker, television, etc.
are available in the library, and students are equipped with an ability to operate these facilities,
students will have more interest in using these resources to develop a curiosity about the vast
amount of information and knowledge that can be made thus available. The librarian must
also be equipped with the ability to use multimedia. Knowledge and managerial ability from
the stage of planning to the implementation stage of the multimedia and to make it a part of
education system should be an effort which we who working in this field should take up. Our
most important motto is to provide information to the students and make the society an
informative society. If students do not show interest in reading books, and if the provision of
books to them in a conventional way does not work, other alternatives such as the multimedia
should be tried in order to achieve what we had set out to achieve with books.
Discussion
Rizwan: In most schools, there is no trained librarian and well-equipped library. How is it
possible to use multimedia application in such libraries?
Sanjeev: It is a valid question to ask in cases of rural libraries. However, we can try our best
to use whatever we can, like a cassette, a tape recorder, etc. We can utilize the funds properly.
And within the minimum budget we can try and have a little application and try to attract the
students towards the library.
Akhtar Hussain, Aligarh Muslim University: You talked about e-books, e-journal, these are
available in Hindi as well as English. How can we provide such things in a rural library?
Sanjeev: The vision is to provide such services to schools. Rural libraries may have difficulty
in procuring these facilities. However, we are looking at the implementation level where we
can plan ways to get access to multimedia services.
Deepak Vashisth, District Coordinator, BDS Cell, Punjab: In Punjab, we do not have librarians
in the schools, but we have the books. So in such cases, is there any software which can be
used to classify the books?
Sanjeev: Delhi government supports a database where only Dewey Decimal Classification
(DDC) can be entered.
Unknown: Yes, DDC online is there. Apart from that, various sites are available for
classification. There are also sites in which one can put the subject and get the number. These
are open access websites and there is a list available.
Vijay Kumar, Delhi: The prime research agencies of India and many other countries also
replicate NCERT. In its document regarding education technology approach, it has criticized
multimedia as a technologically driven obsessed process. At some point of time, government
had planned and given TV, radio in different schools. But, these facilities are lying idle. So, my
question is that unless there is connection between curriculum, teacher and multimedia, any
number of computers in the library is not going to be of any help.
Sanjeev: We cannot blame the teachers. Actually, the willingness to use the facilities have to
be created.
Rakesh Mohan Hallen, Centre for Science Education and Communication, Delhi
Univeristy
At the very outset let me say, I am not a librarian. Well, when I was in school which was a
small one, there was a very small library which I seldom visited because it was not interesting.
When I entered the college, I used to sit in the library extensively and our library used to be
open till 12 ‘o’ clock or 1 in the night. And since my house was very close, I used to be the last
person to leave the library. After doing my graduation and post graduation, I went to IIT
Kanpur. It had a much bigger air conditioned library which was open again till 12’o’ clock or
1’o clock at night. Everyday after dinner, I would go and sit and browse through all the books.
And through this library, I learnt not only my subject, which was Chemistry, I learnt poetry,
philosophy, psychology, biology an any kind of subject which you can learn.
So what is a library? A library as we understand most of the time is a collection of books, the
concept or the idea, which you have in the mind, is some place, where lots of books are
stacked and which you can get issued, when you go to library. But, is that concept valid even
today? The concept was constrained in a time when there was no other medium of
communication people used to write Granths and depended on books. There were big libraries
like Nalanda.
But, what is the position today? The library is a source of information. But we also have
other sources of information such as TV, newspapers, internet, etc. So, one does not have to
really depend only on the library.
One may bother to ask ‘what is information?’ In fact, I run a website for the Centre for
Science Education and Communication (CSEC), University of Delhi and on the website we
have long discussions about what is information: is it only written work, can it be digitized,
etc.? And this discussion has been accessed and taken part in by people all over the world.
When does one needs to access a library? Most of the discussions were mainly limited to
literature, language and other things. But, what appears is that children often have curiosity.
You may come across a word, say, nuclear reactor, terrorism or anything for that matter. And
one may not know what these words mean. So what does one do about these terms which are
thrown at you or the child from all over the media, which neither parents nor anybody can
satisfactorily answer? Not everybody has access to the internet. So, it can be the role of the
library to sedate the internal, natural curiosity which arises in a society.
Now, it is possible that a school library may not have any book on terrorism or any of the
topics. And the ones they have might not be sufficient. In such a situation, how do you gain
access to the information? Secondly, why children usually scared of reading and going to the
library? Here, the family environment of the children plays a role. Many children do not have
an environment where there are books, where there are people in the family reading, if not
books, even newspaper, where there is not space in the house where they can read without
being disturbed by a TV in the other room, etc. Now, why will children with such a surrounding
readily take to reading books? Thirdly, and the most important, reading requires patience.
When we have, say, a fifty or hundred page book, it requires certain time, patience, and
attention. Most of the children have very brief attention span. What do we do about it?
At the CSEC, we run an internet forum, Vimarsh, which deals with students and teachers.
Students ask questions which are then put up on the site. The answer is then given though a
link which has to be just clicked to get the answer. Invariably, it is found that whatsoever
answer is given, they have not read it. They do not even go to the link.
At the CSEC library, we have a number of books which are sort of reference books; even
college students seldom read the books. So two or three pages of the books would be scanned
and put up on the net so that they can read those two pages and thus given an option that
they can borrow the book if they found it interesting. These pages have been accessed a
number of times, but nobody has come back to ask for the book. It is also found in very big,
well maintained, air conditioned libraries that students do not often come. So it is hard to
expect that children would come to the school library which is 100 square yards or something
of an area which is not sufficient even for a class to sit.
A librarian today is trained only in classifying books and being a custodian, that is, she keeps
the books properly in the shelves. She might also not want to lose a costly book, and so she
would not issue the book. One solution to this problem is that if children are interested in
some book, one need not issue the entire book. These days, photocopy machines are available
for four to five thousand Rupees which are very much within the budget of most of the
schools. One can photocopy a page or two from the book and give it to them. If they are
interested, they will come back to read the book. Children are often seen to read the pieces of
newspapers or magazines which come as wrapping of food from vendors or shops. But reading
from a book from the library is a different issue. There is a responsibility to return the book.
The librarian too would be strict about the return of the book. So it might be a much better
option to give him photocopied materials of one or two pages of the book.
Similar process can be done with the case of rural libraries as well. Vidya Bhawan Educational
Resource Center runs a mobile library. Libraries like this can be equipped with photocopy
machines and go to the rural areas. They can give four or five pages to a child. The child then
can be told not to return the pages and pass them on to friends and others who would want to
read. And, once this kind of reading gets initiated, children would get interested in reading
more, and ultimately develop an interest in reading. Given the experience that most of the
people, either in rural India or in Delhi slums, do not have an exposure to or an environment
of books, the idea of photocopying might help the needful. Another way of developing
interest in reading can be the use of wall papers as done by Care India. The classrooms walls
are often totally blank. This wall which can be easily whitewashed again can be used to let
children write about what they have read. This way, children can develop interest not only in
reading but in writing too.
Comment
Richa, Vidya Bhawan Educational Resource Centre: A very grim situation has been presented:
very less attention span in children as well as in adults, books are hardly read, etc. The
situation may not be good, but it is not as grim as you have tried to show.
Secondly, while working with small children photo copied materials might not be a very good
idea. Most of the children pick up books just because they are colorful. So, a photocopy of
the book in a way would destroy the interest of the child. You also suggested that three or
four pages of the book can be photocopied and given to the child to read to initiate the child
to reading. But, when we give the book to the child for the first time, we expect that the book
may or may not be returned. If the book is returned, that means the child might like to read
another one. So, to trigger the interest, you can give the first book which may cost only Rs.15
or Rs. 20. One need not invest a big amount in buying the photocopier machine.
5 October 2008
Session 1
Chairperson: Prof. Vijaya S. Varma, Charu Mathur and Akhtar Hnussai
Speakers: Dr. Sadhna Saxena, Reader, Central Institute of Education, Delhi University
Charu Mathur and Vijay Kumar: ‘Indian School Library: Kal, Aaj aur Kal.’
Dr. Sadhna Saxena
The main focus of this presentation is related to pedagogical aspects of reading. Reading is
an ability which implies comprehension and reflection of what has been read. However, this
is a relation which has not been understood enough. When it is the case of school children at
the primary or middle school children, it is often said that they cannot read or that they have
not learnt how to read. Here, reading may or may not imply comprehension but reflection is
not considered. In another case, we have students at higher educational level such as the
college students who feel they can read. They can read, technically, but cannot comprehend
what they have read. This has been observed through the personal experience of teaching
B.Ed. students who come for their B.Ed. after graduation or post graduation and can read
English or Hindi. These students do not seem to comprehend or reflect on what they have
read. Thus, reading is understood as not related to comprehension as in the first case and also
not as in the case of the latter. Thus the issue of comprehension and reflection which is often
not talked in relation to reading is a serious one and has to be seen as related to reading and
begins at school.
In this context, this presentation would be based on personal experiences post the Kishore
Bharti phase where we worked. During some presentations and the post presentation
discussions, the focus seems to be more on the problems teachers face: teachers do not have
autonomy on certain matters; classes are huge with large number of students to manage, etc.
These problems are mostly administrative problems and related to the examination system.
Classroom teaching is decided on the basis of examination system. These problems are all
real. In fact, the situation has gone from bad to worse in thirty years, at least in 14 districts of
Madhya Pradesh when we started working with the schools in the state. The policies made in
the school system leaves no time for teachers to involve themselves in academic work.
However, while discussing these problems, it was felt that the very important aspect of
reading as a cognitive process is taken for granted and assumed to have been understood by
all. It would be naïve to relate the problems in reading and literacy with administration? It is
not going to be the case that once the administrative problems are solved, the other problem
such as that of reading is going to be solved as well.
In India, researches regarding the theoretical understanding of the reading processes are rare.
While at Kishore Bharti, fifteen years ago, though it was intuitively felt that there were problems
in teaching in the school, there was no clarity on the ways to understand the problems and
work on it. It was only when we were introduced to reading a book by Frank Smith and an
article in the Scientific American in 1972; we began to understand the situation to a great
extent and started working on it. As some presentations have brought out also, teaching in
the primary classes in our schools, is by and large based on sounds. It is not based on
understanding the meaning which should be the priority in learning at this stage. And thus, as
mentioned the discussions show that we seem to have missed this point.
Any step towards change in system has always been met with resistance. The conventions are
strong and accepted as truth most of the times. Attempts to critically look at the teaching
process in a school system are no exception. That teaching letters is presumed to be the only
way to start teaching how to read and is taken as a dictum and is supported by both parents
and teachers most of the times. This makes it more difficult to carry out steps towards any
change and accepted.
One important theory which is important in the context of the situation we worked in is the
schema theory. Dr. Shobha Sinha’s presentation has already talked about how prior knowledge
or schema of cultural experiences and beliefs that children bring to school helps in reading a
text. To elaborate it a bit, there is much more than cultural experiences and beliefs with which
a child comes in the classroom. There is the experience of discrimination that children go
through more often that not. This discrimination exists at the level of caste, gender, community:
majority and minority, etc. and the experience is of violence and injustice. Not to believe in
discrimination does not imply the non-existence of the same. It is important to understand
this situation because many a times this difficulty in the teaching learning process is faced by
children from those communities where they form the first generation learners and do not
have resources of any kind that facilitate their learning process. These children come with the
knowledge of a very rich oral tradition which is not accommodated in the curriculum of
formal education. The contents in the curriculum rarely address and accept this schema. This
observation is partly based on the experiences in Pipariya and Bankhedi in Hoshangabad
after Kishore Bharti was closed down in 1989. The educated section as well as formally
trained teachers in the villages, who were associated with people in Kishore Bharti working
in the area of primary schools and outside, felt the need to continue the work even after
Kishore Bharti was closed down. This group of twenty five to thirty people resumed work in
twenty five villages which were in the interior areas and even had no primary schools. Centers
were set up in these villages. Though the centers were meant to give more opportunities to
children who could not attend schools for various reasons, children who went to schools also
started to come to the centers. These centers run in the nights, so it was also possible for
these children who went to schools in the day time to come to the centers at night. It is
interesting and worthwhile to note that there was not much difference in the reading skills of
both types of children. Few children were exceptions who had an exposure of some kind in
the schools and tried to dominate the other children at the centers. However, situation was
very creatively handled by the teachers and no child dominated the other or was dominated,
thus maintaining a cooperative and conducive atmosphere in the centers.
Most of the children at the centers were from an area which had an active labor association.
So these children had the experience of the time when their parents and other people were
part of the union and took part in the struggles, particularly related to land and forest issues.
They had also faced the severe repression of the police and forest officers. All these experiences
came to the classroom along with the children and became a part of the texts. The text came
out of this context and not a research based conclusion. Thus, it one cannot claim that it has
helped in reading. However, works of writers like Frank Smith or Goodman and some others
would show how reading materials play a role in linking or dividing communities and creating
interests, and how challenging these materials are, etc. Therefore, the group working in the
centers believed that it was important to make these experiences related to their struggle a
part of the text in the classroom.
Reading is usually taken to be the ability to read speedily or slowly. But we need to consider
if only reading in this manner of what is written would be considered as reading or if there
are some stages prior to such reading and thus be considered part of reading. Children, when
they come in contact with printed materials, start engaging with it by turning over the pages,
and actually trying to read the book. They also pay attention by listening intently when
somebody else is reading out the same book. They take this curiosity further by trying to read
by pretending to read and sharing this experience with peers. All these processes should be
considered part of the process of learning to read.
The children at the center were those children who did not have any exposure to print media
at home. They did not have anything like access to newspapers or books at home. Those
children who did not attend schools are not even exposed to the textbooks. Scholars on
literacy have always been against a strict divide between the literate and non literate societies.
Many of them in their studies have shown that the so called totally non literate societies also
have several traditions of writing which can be different from what we would narrowly consider
as a sign of literacy. We still felt the need to have printed materials available at the centers
such as newspapers, books, and posters etc. that were not available at their homes. Therefore,
in order to have such an atmosphere, attempts were made to set up small libraries at every
center where there would be materials for reading for these children. These materials were
also provided in those villages where there were no centers form mobile libraries.
In the process of setting up of these libraries, two experiences were important. The centers
were set up with a more formal structure where the rooms had books, newspapers, posters,
etc. to read and blackboards. On the other hand, the mobile libraries are completely informal
in structure where about 100-125 books were taken to the villages on bicycles. Books would
be spread and children would be collected at one place and made to participate in focused
activities with the people who carry out the functions of the mobile libraries. Many children
would come who could not read but had certain interests and curiosity to look at the books,
touch them, play with them by turning the pages, pretend to read them, etc. Thus, running a
mobile library was not a mechanical work in itself but had to be oriented towards reading and
its importance. This activity was encouraged not just because children should not be de-
motivated but also because it is an important activity which is a part of the early stages of
reading and that is the theoretical understanding that drove the activities.
These children started taking and looking at one book after the other. They also demanded
more books as they said they had finished ‘reading’ the old ones. They would also pretend to
read and then recite what they said they had read. These children then showed a desire that
whatever they read out should be written down. After whatever they recite had been written
down, they would take it with them. This led to a children’s magazine, Bal Chireiya, which was
based on these kind of children’s writings. It was encouraging to see their happiness when
they saw the formal acknowledgement that was given to their expressions. Gulgula is a children’s
magazine, conceptually different form Bal Chireiya, which was based on children’s writings.
The children would take these magazines and try to read. They would point out the writings
which were theirs and also those which were writings by their friends. Thus all these activities
should be considered as a crucial part of reading and not be ignored.
It has been a conventional practice in the classrooms to start teaching of reading with sounds
and letters. It is believed that there are fewer chances of committing mistakes in this kind of
sound-based reading where emphasis is put on the correct pronunciation of these sounds and
connecting them to the letters. Children recite these sounds and letters almost as if they are
singing and repeating them. The immediate effect of this kind of learning to read can be seen
when children start pronouncing words with no regard to the vowel sounds. Any process of
learning which does not begin with such a system is always considered doubtful and viewed
with suspicion. Such a restriction and suspicion was felt once when we were working with a
team of non-formal teachers in Chhattisgarh regarding the process of development of reading
materials and how these materials reach the classrooms in their finalized forms. During a
workshop people wrote small pieces on stories connected with the names of villages in the
area and also based on the experiences of discrimination of the Dalits. These pieces were
then developed as a book. During this workshop, a certain expert on education visited us,
and when he saw our book he immediately rejected the book. He did not like the fact that the
book did not begin with the usual lesson on sounds and letters and that the lesson should
start with consonants without vowel sounds. When asked for a suggestion on how to bring in
variation on a certain text by using no vowels/matras, we saw that he found the exercise
extremely difficult and puzzled because there were very limited options and that it was almost
impossible to do what he was told to do. Thus, exercises like this would show how unnatural
and impractical it is to have a number of words without vowel sounds.
This stress on correct pronunciation of sounds and words leads to another practice among
teachers of correcting what we call mistakes made by children. When a child attempts to read
a poem, story or a paragraph, firstly, stress is on the right pronunciation of sounds and she is
corrected when she does not pronounce a sound rightly. She is again corrected when she does
not read a word the way it should be read. And this process of constantly correcting mistakes
and stopping at every step goes on as she reads. If the objective of reading is to understand
the meaning of what is read, it gets diverted and the purpose of reading is lost in the process
of correcting mistakes. Therefore, it should come as no surprise when children have a blank
expression when asked about the text which they had just read. These cognitive consequences
create stagnation in comprehension and reflection in the process of reading. Therefore, it is
essential that the notion of mistake or error is redefined.
Differences can be noticed usually between the language in which children read and the
language they write in. This difference is the difference between two linguistic varieties, one
usually considered a language and the other a dialect. Children often read some words in a
different way and sometimes they even change the words. For example, the linguistic variety
of the children in an area where we worked is a mixture of Bundeli and Gondi, and the
medium of instruction that we employed was Hindi. These children would read (¼| as
l¤lº¤i, ªii¬¬ as ¤¬in. And they did it effortlessly. There was neither loss of meaning as such,
nor the story changed. An important point to be noticed from such an act of reading is the
role of guessing and prediction in reading. Children in the process of reading predict certain
facts depending on what they perceive and thus read some words differently. Not only in the
case of children, this kind of reading is also seen among adults. When there is change in
meaning after such a reading, we revert and read again to get the actual meaning of what has
been just read. In such a context, it would be fair to ask if this kind of reading be seen as
mistake. So, we need to redefine what is to be regarded as a mistake. If the child reads -·sº as
-·(º, and ¬¬- as l¬¬-, to stop her and disrupt his reading saying l¬¬- is wrong, is to create
a hindrance not only in the process of reading but also in the process of socialization that she
is a part of.
It is unfortunate that even teachers of formal school found it wrong not to correct the mistakes.
At this point, it is essential to debate whether enjoying a story or a poem, trying to comprehend
what is read is more important or correcting the mistakes.
Besides these experiences based on the work done in the field, two important issues related
to reading are: reading aloud and the written environment. It is commonly and wrongly believed
that children would learn to read as they learned to speak. Constant interaction with parents
plays very important role in articulation. In the case of reading, it is the teacher who has to
play an important and challenging role. It is essential that the teacher read aloud for them and
children are able to see in their books what the teacher is reading.
The second aspect is that of the written environment. Many efforts were made to develop
posters based on popular books and poems, children’s songs etc. so that children can try to
read them while playing or engaging in other activities. Before the stage of what we have
narrowly called as reading, children are observed to have undergone the stages of identifying
books, posters, the titles of the books, and whole sentences.
Read aloud is a very important process, where children also have the reading material which
a teacher has. They indulge in finger tracking and follow the direction on their own. As
teacher reads, children track the words by putting fingers on the words. It has been observed
that in the beginning, they move their fingers fast. As the rate of identification increases, the
speed of finger movement automatically decreases.
Many people advised us to at least put alphabet charts in the classroom and we have done it.
Children would see this chart as they see the other charts. Secondly, it is important to trust
children during the learning process because they do learn. In our case, such a trust developed
gradually among the people of village and they would come to the class and sit there.
It is more important to understand the theoretical underpinnings of reading and with that
understand the ways of teaching reading through creative processes. Attempts to impose
hard and fast rules of sequences would be only be useless but also act as an impediment in
the process of learning by children.
Prof.Verma: Thank you. We have 10 minutes. Sadhana talked about what is the meaning of
the education on the basis of her experiences of working with poor people. If any body of
you wants to ask question, please raise your hands. We will take 4-5 questions and then
Sadhana would respond over the questions. Please identify your self before asking the question.
Discussion
Dr.Kuldeep Singh: The common trend in our schools is that first, the teacher speaks and then
children follow him like a parrot. So is it a right strategy of teaching according to the method
you are introducing or should it be changed? The second thing is that we have syllabus in a
standard language, on the basis of central organization NCERT, so is it not necessary to
make the syllabus localize. You have talked about the theories of Frank Smith and Gudman,
so are these theories not introduced in training or refresher courses, so that teachers can
understand the psychology of teaching. Unless that happens, I don’t think the concept of
reading you are giving would reach to the grass root level.
Deepak Vashishta, Punjab: For the last two days we have been talking about Mobile libraries
and involving children in the selection process of books. I have been associated with literacy
campaign and also working with it some or the other way. In a mobile library we select some
books, so when we talk about involving children in the book selection process, how we can
assume that children would like the books we are selecting. How can you finalize the selection?
Bharat, Hazira: you have mentioned in your study that there was not much difference between
the school going children and the children who are not going to the school, so I want to know
more about the study.
Prof. Verma: Thank you, Sadhna, would you like to respond to these now?
Dr. Sadhna Saxena: That the children should parrot what the teacher is saying is not what I
said, because we’re talking about the engagement of the child with the reading material. I was
talking about a situation where the teacher is reading the story aloud and the children are
simultaneously looking into their books, turning pages, talking to each other, being part of
the reading process. What you are talking about is that the teacher speaks and the children
repeat. I want to clearly distingush between the two.
About the question whether syllabus should be localized does not have a simple answer. The
argument against this is that till what stage should it be localized and why, and those children
who are only exposed to localized syllabus, how will they be exposed to a broader experience.
For example, in science, the magnet may not always be a part of a child’s experience, particularly
among some village children. But children have so mych fun with the experiments around the
magnet and they learn so much. So if one sticks to the argument for localization of syllabus,
then this should not at all be the part of many syllabi because it is not part of many children’s
daily experience. As I said, this question of localization certainly does not have a simple
answer.
As for teacher training, yes, it is true that the important question is what exactly happens in
our teacher trainings and orienation, how can they be changed for the better, and what is the
exposure and understanding of the resource persons who conduct these trainings. Those of
us who call ourselves ‘experts’ often think that we have nothing left to learn, but only to
teach. So we ourselves need to get engaged in the learning process.
You also talked about the selection of books for the mobile library, that how can one tell if a
child will like a book or not. This is a really important question, the only answer to which is
that we can find out out from the children themselves. The process we adopted was that we
made several books available to the children at the first stage itself, and whatever they could
read and flipped through with interest, they gave their feedback on those books, and the
books were accordingly selected. We also picked out some books ourselves, the ones we
remember liking in our childhood. So it is important to involve the children in the process of
book selection because often a committee on its own decides what books are appropriate for
children and what aren’t.
The other question that was asked was on the difference between children who go and those
who don’t go to school, which is very important. There is no study of these two groups and I
wish there were one. Even yesterday, Shobha Sinha was saying that documentation is very
important and much needed. Many people in the activist mode think that such documentation
serves no purpose, that their job is just to do, and I feel a real sense od loss in the fact that
there’s an absence of detailed studies. What I said was based on the experience of working at
that time, as I witnessed how poorly the teaching is done in these schools. I still have
handwritten pieces by children from class 5
th
to 8
th
who were barely able to write their own
name, which is why we said that there wasn’t much difference between those who went and
those who didn’t go to school.
Someone mentioned here about how important it is for the pronunciation to be right. This
issue leads to several questions, like what is the ‘correct’ pronunciation. For example, the
same word could be pronounced differently in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab and Rajasthan,
and what children say is what the pronunciation is in that area. So, the question is who
decides what the ‘standard’ pronunciation should be.
Dr. Shobha Sinha, CIE, Delhi Univeristy: Though I have missed the beginning of your
presentation, but I wanted to ask yesterday and day before yesterday, when many people were
talking about developing a library, they were saying that at some point they felt frustrated,
because of the lack of books, or children got bored seeing the same books. So I want to ask
whether you also faced such type of situation while you worked there.
Dr. Sadhna Saxena: It is very true, and hundred books do not stand anywhere near enough.
The frustration faced by people who worked in building libraries is a problem which we also
faced and there were no quick solutions. There is a constant need for new books. It was very
difficult to get too many books in Hindi. However, we cyclostyled many children’s books
which were in English and other languages and got them translated to Bundeli. The translated
text then was attached with the original texts. Texts created thus proved very successful and
popular.
Charu Mathur, Akhtar Hnussai and Vijay Kumar
Charu Mathur
This paper is joint effort with Mr. Vijay Kumar. The title of this presentation is ‘Indian
School Library: Kal, Aaj aur Kal.’ Various efforts have been made with regards to the teaching
and learning process for ‘normal children’. However, the issue that would be addressed in
this presentation would be in the context of the disabled children. Various organizations and
documents such as IFLA, UNESCO Manifesto, National Curriculum Framework 2005, BCF
2006, etc. have highlighted the importance of library in an education system. Yashpal
committee and Bihar curriculum committee have emphasized that an institution should not
only have a library, it should fulfill the needs of the children. We need to ask what the kinds
of children are and what the nature of their needs is when we build such a collection. Prof.
Krishna Kumar pointed out that a public institution like a public library had to provide its
services without any discrimination on the basis of 3 Cs, namely, Caste, Creed and Culture.
We would like to add another C which is Children with special needs.
These needs can be broadly divided into two categories: social needs and personal needs.
Social needs are based on economical and racial backgrounds. Children come from financially
unsound background or from different communities which make it difficult for them to gain
access to certain advantages. Personal needs are based on medical grounds. They may be
hearing impaired, visually challenged or orthopedically challenged, etc. because of which
they face certain physical problems in a public-set up like a library. There are also other
disabilities such as learning disabilities, emotional disabilities and behavioral disabilities. Unless
we understand these aspects of the needs of the children, it will not be possible to build a
collection in the library which would fulfill the needs of the children.
In spite of the special schools for these children, the government has taken some steps to
implement a project of inclusive education according to which efforts are being made to
bring every child in the mainstream education. Sending children, who are disabled in some
way or the other, to the special schools would further make them and the society feel that
they are different from other ‘normal’ children and thus isolate them from the mainstream
activities. It is most likely that these children would face a lot of difficulties, physically as
well as mentally, when they attend a school already designed for ‘normal’ children. However,
teachers and other elders in school can a play an important role in helping these children gain
their self confidence and thus boost their morale.
In the context of the library, the school librarian can also play a significant role in helping
these children. Suggestions like sending the children to special schools for special training
can also demoralize rather insult, the children as well as their parents. A librarian can give
some responsibilities to these children, like she would give to other children. This would
develop a sense of responsibility and a feeling self-worth among the disabled children, and
they are likely to strive for the better. Activities regarding reading can be made as enjoyable
as possible and also aim at exploiting the potential of the children. A teacher or a librarian
can judge a child’s potential capability as well as their problems by observing and being
sensitive to them. Last but not the least, these children should have the right to words of
praise which can help them build their confidence and trust in their capabilities.
Besides these efforts, the technological advantages offered by assistive technology such as
the ICT should also be exploited in order to make learning easy and enjoyable for these
disabled children who are in a disabling environment. Development of technology regarding
education in India started in 1970s with the launch of SITE in 1975 and INSAT in 1980.
With the spread of internet in 1990s, came the Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP), wireless
and cable techniques and other important techniques like the language computing technique
which was used for translating one language to another.
In spite of all these facilities, legislation of library is very important in order to carry out the
various efforts for the development of libraries. Theresults of a data analysis showed that
literacy rate is very high in those states, for example Kerala, where there is the legislation of
library as compared to those states which have none. The states with library legislation also
appear to have various useful facilities available and are more aware about education than
the other states without the library legislation.
To conclude, we would like to mention that school libraries can play an instrumental role in
bringing children with special needs into the paradigm of inclusive education. ICT tools in
school libraries are effective means to address the needs of these children and implementation
of library legislation across media is the need of hour.
Questions and Answers
Manohar, ICICI Centre of Elementary Education: While the role of the librarian remains, the
main problem is how to identify the children with special needs. Your presentation seemed to
have missed talking about an integrated strategy - teachers have been excluded from the
process. So, is the librarian identifying the children and how much interaction can a librarian
have with the children? You seem to ensure that they interact enough to identify the problems
and apply the strategies. There is a need for an integrative process in which teachers, parents,
and even school administration have their roles to play. In such a situation, what role do you
assign is the librarian?
Anil Jain, Vidya Bhawan: In the context of children with special needs, some issues that
needed to be highlighted are: what kind of children should be identified as children with
special needs, and how a library can cater to the different needs of these children and help
them in language development.
Sachitanand, SCERT, Jaipur: Having a special school for disabled children might save these
children from the frustration that they would feel if they went to a ‘normal’ school where
they might feel that they lack in certain capabilities which are found in other children. Secondly,
a librarian gets to spend only a period of thirty to forty minutes with children. Within such a
short period of time, how is a librarian expected to contribute meaningfully towards the
development of the children.
Charu: I from my personal experience would like to answer the question about the frustration
that disabled children are likely to feel. I am also physically handicapped and till now I have
been studying with ‘normal’ students. Frustration might creep in when a child, who had
remained in a special school till about ten years of age, joins a ‘normal’ school and interacts
with the children there. Whereas if the child goes to a ‘normal’ school from the beginning, he
would not have to go through the process of adjusting to a disabling environment during
which he might be frustrated and made aware of his disabilities.
Sachitanand: What about the mentally disabled children? Are you implying that there is no
utility of the various organizations working for these special children in our society?
Charu: These organizations are important and society plays an important role. Society here
can be referred to the child’s parents, other family members and school. Twenty years ago we
needed to send a blind child to the Blind School because Braille books were available only in
that school. But now books in Braille are available in all schools. If there is even a single child
in the school who is visually disabled the needs of that child would be considered. There is a
provision of books in Braille in Delhi Government schools.
As far as the question of identification of disabled children is concerned, no special techniques
are required. For example, in a class of sixty a child sits in the library holding a book but not
reading. The librarian can talk to him and try to find out the problem. He can neither see the
text nor is able to understand the text. Parents can then be called for further clarification and
necessary action.
This presentation focuses on the role of the librarian in the context of the needs of disabled
children. This is not to deny or overlook the role of the teachers.
In Delhi Government schools, regular records of disabled children are kept. Special camps
are organized for the visually disabled and orthopedic children. Out of 2500 children, ten to
twenty children suffer from some disabling problems or the other which are also categorized.
Special camps are also organized for the treatment of these children, and some of them are
sent to concerned hospitals, if felt necessary.
Gurminder Singh: What is the basis for relating legislation of library with literacy? States like
Haryana and Bihar, even with such legislation, have very low rate of literacy.
Charu: As far as literacy is concerned, it is not limited only to knowledge of letters or reading
a text or being able sign. States which emphasize on education are states where the legislation
exists. Legislations are made so that certain objectives can be fulfilled. However, many a
times the legislations are not in various States where legislation of library is implemented
have comparatively better condition of education, with a high rate of literacy than those
where there is no legislation of library or the legislation is not made effective.
5 October 2008
Session 2
Chairperson: Dr. Sadhna Saxena
Speakers: Manish Jain, New Education Group Foundation for Innovation and
Research in Education, Delhi
Title: Libraries for the Marginalized
Mr. Vinayak, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, Andhra Pradesh
Manish Jain
NEG Fire is the acronym of National
Education Group Foundation for Innovation
and Research in Education. This group was
formed previously as National Education
Group and later changed to New Education
Group in 1990. It works in 14 states in about
53 districts for the quality elementary
education of children who come from
marginalized communities. It has three focus
areas: partnership promotion, research and
documentation.
In the area of partnership promotion, we are
engaged in three kinds of activities:
– We support partners, who are different kinds of small NGOs working in backward
areas of the country,
– We have an eddy-leadership programme
– We have an inter-state areas strategy which works for children living in border areas
and who have not received education for various reasons such as linguistic problems,
child prostitution trade, etc.
Under the area of research and documentation, we are engaged with four kinds of researches
given as below:
– Research with academic institutions
– Independent research by NEG fire
– A research fellowship programme which involves offering fellowships to NGO
workers, members of the community, school teachers. This programme will be
significant to this presentation because it entails supporting those individuals who are
practitioners but have always not received time and support to engage in a research
enquiry concerned they are concerned with.
– Research in partnership with other NGOs
The frames within which we conceptualise equation, issue and challenge shape the strategies
of intervention, and decide what is considered sufficient and ideal. This means that if we do
not take note of certain aspects, dimensions, concerns, people, contexts, and experiences,
then our response would be shaped by these frames. This point is important because when we
deal with questions of library and reading with relation to the question of children, community
and teachers, we need to reflect on what we mean by the term library. We need to reflect on
how we understand library, not just as a corner where books are kept, but as a social space.
We also need to consider how we construct the idea of knowledge: what is knowledge and
whose knowledge are we talking about? And when we talk about reading a text, we have to
situate theories like the Schema theory and the Reader response theory in relation to what we
mean by text and what is the relationship of text with the author as well as the reader.
Thus, both education and library are arenas of cultural politics and they have real life
implications. So, reading does not refer to simply an act of reading the words and sentences
and making sense of it and having a sense of joy doing so. Reading is a political act as well. It
is debatable that the act of reading and deriving the meaning is always a joyful activity, as
some of the speakers have contended during this seminar. Culture can be an instrument of
oppression and cultural artefacts like books may be a kill-joy for certain individuals or groups.
When a text may lead to identification, whether of pain or happiness or empathy, it may also
create a sense of being violently attacked or humiliated, or of repulsion. The subaltern groups
may resist the derogatory identities imposed on them and fashion in a new positive and
dignified identity that celebrates and asserts their own agency.
We have been looking at library as space where children, teacher and even the community
can read and engage in both creation and deliberation of knowledge. But what is happening
in this process is that we are using all these terms as generic terms with little reference to the
location of actors, whether they are teachers, librarians, children or members of the community.
Teachers and librarians often complain the situation they work in. We have not taken note of
the nature of knowledge production from that aspect. So, there is a Kantian notion of the
abstract empty subject engaged in a rational enquiry and knowledge production. The
constitution and practices of the space and operations of and relations of dominance remain
outside the terms of discussions. In this context it is important to ask
– What would library as a knowledge space mean for the marginalised
– What would creation of library by the marginalised mean in their struggle against the
structures and discourses that produce and maintain inequality and subjugation?
– How do they imagine library as a knowledge space in their efforts and demands for
inclusion?
– What are the challenges in conceptualising and developing library, as an inclusive
knowledge space in favour of the marginalised?
In this presentation, we will take three instances which are as follows:
The first instance is the development of nine books about the denotified groups in association
with Prof. Ajay Dandekar, who is presently at IRMA. The denotified tribes are certain groups
which were declared as criminal tribes by the British and were termed denotified after the
Independence. Now, even after the Independence, most of them continue to figure under
habitual offenders act. Many a times, we come across news where people belonging to the
Pardi or Banjara or the beggar communities are suspected or caught in cases of thefts in big
cities. So, this instance tells about the life the denotified groups led with the stamp of
criminality on them.
The second instance is about the effort by one of the mentors of the research fellowship
programme, Dr. Shruti Tambe, who is in Department of Sociology in University of Pune. A
feminist herself, she has brought out in association with her friends a feminist magazine. This
magazine later addressed issues regarding school teachers and children. This example tells
about the process of a feminist magazine going to school libraries.
The third instance is of an action research programme where attempt is being made to teach
English to tribal children who are in Hindi medium schools in Jharkhand. We will look at how
library is being used there and the kinds of challenges faced.
When we are talking about libraries and the children who are reading, and also the teachers,
it is important to understand these categories and the different roles they assume in different
contexts. During this presentation, we will try to understand this issue through three case
studies and see how library can become a matter of concern in a non-urban context for that
section of the community or the children who are most deprived. The issue of community is
being raised here deliberately in the light of the three concerns that the concept note of this
conference on libraries has:
– developing or establishing libraries
– Concept of library as a place where students, teachers and the community are active
members
– Concept of library not only as a place to read, but also a place, where there is
engagement with the oral and visual material. Besides the facilities that the multimedia
makes available, the oral and visual materials can also be produced and developed.
Now, the first case study is on the efforts, which NEG Fire has supported, of teaching English
to the tribal children in Hazaribag in Jharkhand, who are studying in Hindi medium schools.
Father Robert Slattery, who is involved in the programme, in a letter regarding this conference
says:
When I came to Masai Marsal School in 1999, no library was there. But as the library is
essential, to expand the language skills of the children, developing affection to reading and to
extending their knowledge, I made a school library. There were problems of funds and space. So,
I started from Class VII to X and later for Class V and VII. Hopefully we would reach to lower
classes as well. Till now, this library is used in the school only; it is not used for the children or
community outside the school. There is no other library in that area. As far as tribal groups are
concerned, they are in majority in this school and library is very important for them, because they do
not have money for buying the books, newspaper or other magazines. This library not only provides
them with the opportunity to read, but also gives them the opportunity to engage with books and
other things. English is very important in today’s society, therefore we have brought story books in
English also and have been using them continuously. Children take these books home by getting
them issued. There is a period allotted where they can read at their own, or take the books home.
Many a times we give questions in the exams, from English story books. A teacher is taking care
of school library, as we do not have any trained librarian. We collect some fees from the children
and these books have been purchased from that money. Most of the books are in Hindi, but some
are in English. There are about thirty thousand books. We prefer books which do not have many
pages and have interesting stories and some moral messages too. These books are issued once a week
and can be reissued. Usually teachers are not entitled to get books issued though they have a
reference library in the staff room. No such restrictions are imposed on the students.
As also have been discussed during other presentations, library has a special importance for
the groups or communities who do not have any other resources to engage with the books or
any other printed materials. Secondly, it is very important that people who are working in the
schools, teachers or librarians, are trained. Thirdly, the way a library is used depends on the
type of interaction that children have with the teachers and also the relation that teachers
have with their higher functionaries.
The second case study is regarding the Dr. Shruti Tambe’s feminist magazine mentioned
above. She has sent an account of her experiences briefly. With the research fellowship, she is
working with some women, one of whom is from Kolhati community which is a denotified
tribal community. The females of this tribe started by performing in Nautankis and other
shows and later turned into prostitution as occupation at a very early age. And from the
childhood, girls are pushed to this business. Dr. Tambe’s research looks into the structure of
patriarchy in the community and its effect on girls and their health and education. In her
account of her experiences, she reports that the girl who worked with her was given a book
by a Dalit author named Baby Kamble. An activist, who is the son of Kishor Shantabai Kale,
a former Nautanki performer, has worked on the situation of the Kolhati woman by trying to
understand and change the situation by looking at it objectively. She also has given to two
other people, who were working on the same subject, a book called ‘Sangatin Yatra’ in Hindi,
which was later published as ‘Playing with the fire’ by Zubaan, This book looks at the
construction of gender in our day to day practices and the NGOisation or globalisation of a
civil society. Dr. Tambe has also shared about the problems that people continuously faced in
reading. Reading was a constant struggle for this group as it consisted of those who have
studied till Class X or XII but have not experienced the process of reading, comprehending
and engaging with the texts. The second struggle is related to the selection of text. On the
one hand only those books are chosen which children can enjoy and adults can also identify
with it, and on the other hand, the approach is also to understand the present struggles and
conflicts that they have experienced and try to come up with solutions. Reading can be helpful
in engaging with these issues. The kind of engagement a person from the Kolhati community
would have would be different form the one a person, say an NGO professional, would have.
But the purpose of the selection of the text would be served. The text was selected in the
first place not because everybody would make his or her own sense by reading it, or it has any
given meaning that is to be reproduced in some exam. The text has served the purpose because
it has engaged people in reading it and trying to understand its message.
A feminist bi-monthly Marathi magazine Baija was sent to 1600 schools in the tribal districts
of Garhchiroli and Yavatmal, with support from UNICEF. They received poems, stories,
reactions, letters etc. from new audiences. But as the support from UNICEF was not extended,
they had to change the structure of the magazine. The magazine is concerned with the
construction of social reality through gender. This issue has to be clear to students of Classes
VI and VII as well as the teacher of the school in the community. Thus, to ensure that the
importance of the issue is communicated properly, it has to be presented in different ways
through different experiences which they could identify with. Here, library has a role to play
in such a step towards social change and as Freire says in Concretization the oppressed should
play a role by trying to understand his or her own situations and his or her relation to the
surrounding situations.
The third instance is that of the denotified communities. Fourteen books concerning myths
and tales were used. Myths and tales necessitate a look at history. In that history, people
belonging to the denotified community were till then posted as a criminal tribe.
There were stories written by the elders of the community on 1857 revolution which were to
be used with the children in Balwadis. However these stories needed to be altered in order to
fit them in the pedagogical framework and there was no preparation for that. However, when
these books were released, an old man came to the stage and asked the organisers to give him
those books as they were from Pathrawat community and this is the first book published in
the language of that community. This is not to say that structure of dominance gets over just
with a book getting published. Micheal Apple in debate with Peter McClellan says that critical
pedagogy does not disrupt neo-liberal and rightist policies. However, one could argue that to
construct a library as a space for change, it is important that the questions raised during this
presentation be addressed.
Discussion
Anjali: When we select and publish the material from the tribal community where we work
and construct materials such as books and wall papers, people get more opportunities to
engage with reading materials when we use this local material as reading materials. I would
like to add that in this process there always remains a conflict about how to get it widely
accepted, and what type of engagement is to be involved with it.
Unknown: Could you elaborate on your observation that reading is a political act?
Unknown: You have talked about the important questions regarding the construction of
knowledge among the marginalized. You pointed out that books which bring a sense of joy
may also incite feelings of being violently attacked or humiliated. In the context of Jharkhand
where English is being taught, an inclusion of sorts can be seen in that the people, who did
not have access to books, now could get books to read. However, it is very difficult to
conclude that no subversive activity is happening in the process. When we take any agenda or
issue through which we talk about political sensitization, it is important to ask how much of
community involvement remains. Is that a dialogic process or do we take to the community
what we think is right?
Manish Jain
Reading is a political act not in the sense of association with any political parties. Benedict
Anderson, in his work, has mentioned that reading newspapers and books of print capitalism
in schools has played a very special role in the process of developing the thought of Rasthtra
Raj and Rashtravaad. If one person is reading a book, that is a private act. If this process is
happening all over the country, it is a collective act. We can hypothesize the presence of a
library in each village, school, all over the country where even a farmer would be reading a
book. So reading is a political act in itself in the sense that many people are involved in it.
Secondly, in the process of engaging with the text, various relations are developed with the
society. For example, it is said that each child should go to the school. But one can ask why a
child should need to go to a school where teachers make negative comments on them regarding
their caste, gender, religion etc., where their freedom and self respect is abused. One can ask
what the main goal of education is when we want a child to be able to manage in the market
place or read an advertisement after he has passed Class V. In this context, we are looking at
education as a political act.
Many textbooks are not sensitive enough and have not been developed keeping in mind the
tribal children. In the case of teaching of English to the deprived community, one possibility
is that it is an attempt to bridge the gaps found in these kinds of textbooks and teach with the
available resources.
Regarding the question on the level of community involvement and political sensitization,
any agitation which does not have the public participation at the agency level, or at the level
of thoughts of the people, is bound to become an issue of indoctrination. When we say that
we should also select such texts from which children can understand their relations in the
society through their experiences, it does not imply that they cannot derive joy in reading the
texts. The point was that there are many such books which are not joyful to read for children.
Here, we need to have a wide variety of texts. The need is to develop in children a sense of
critically looking at what they read. And this should not be through absence but should be in
the form of understanding these relationships and engaging with their own situations. So
there should be a wider choice, instead of determination by a small group or a party.
Ajay Gupta, Digantar
Digantar has been working in the field of education since the last thirty years in the area of
running schools, pedagogy curriculum research, working with NGOs and government
organizations. There are two programmes Digantar is involved with. Digantar has established
several schools and one programme takes into consideration the pedagogy, books, curriculum
policies, recruitment of teachers, etc. Under the second programme, Digantar provides
academic support to seventy five government schools in Fagi block which is 60 Kms away
from Jaipur. The academic support would mean that our representatives go to the schools and
interact with teachers, and try to improve several aspects of the schools. There is also a
project called Digantar Library Project in these 75 schools, which is being funded by Room to
Read.
This presentation focuses on the following three areas:
– Achievement of reading and writing skills and the processes adopted
– How we look at libraries in context of reading and writing skills
– Utilization of libraries in the schools
These three points would be linked to the experiences of Digantar vi-a-vis the library project.
Let us now look at the first point. The first assumption that Digantar has adopted is that the
first time when a child is exposed to the first word her entire learning should be meaningful.
When she decodes a text and does not derive any meaning of that text, it is not considered as
reading. The second assumption is that since reading means trying to understand a text which
is written in a script, other actions associated with it such as turning pages of the books,
listening to stories from the books while holding the books, etc., though necessary, are not
included as reading. In the same way, picture reading is also not considered as reading. We feel
that script is always in main focus in the context of reading. Thirdly, it is very important that
the child’s language is accepted in schools. Here, it is quite likely that the text is written in
Hindi, but the child writes in his own language. This child’s language should be respected and
efforts should be made to teach Hindi through her language.
Children would learn to reading they are given books and the freedom to read. An organized
programme is needed towards this direction. Digantar has attempted to implement such a
programme in the Digantar schools. This programme is also likely to be implemented in the
government schools. The main focus of the program is based on the children’s skills: the level
of children, what they know, and their language skills. This programme is meant to take
children towards freedom of learning, so that they could reach to a level and learn to read on
their own and understand and reflect on what they have read. They should be able to
comfortably interpret a new text which they will come across.
This program can be seen in two parts at the conceptual level, though these parts get integrated
in practice. The first part of the program is concerned with the introduction of the books to
the children even before they learn how to read and familiarize them with the written words.
In Digantar, the utilization of the library starts during such a stage of the child’s linguistic
development. We do not have a class system. Each teacher would work with a group of
children. Every classroom has fifty to seventy books which children can see and play with.
These groups of children consist of those who have been coming to the school as recent as
six months as well as those who have been coming for three years. Thus, the group would
have children who know how to read as well as those who do not know how to read yet. So
the children who cannot read listen to the stories from the children who can read. Along with
that, children have activities like discussions on the pictures, plays etc. or on the stories the
teacher has told them. They also act out the stories in the pictures or books. All these activities
start before the children start getting involved with reading. This is because we feel that if the
child gets introduced to the world of books, before he learns a script or the language, it would
help him in his learning process and also develop an interest towards books and reading.
The second part of this program is linked to the first part. Digantar develops books which are
used in these schools. These books follow a process which aims at teaching reading. This
process includes reading the complete story, identifying the sentences or words from the
story, identifying letters, and then making new words or sentences. Learning to read and
familiarizing with the script goes along with this process.
There are six hours of school time in a day, out of which one hour is for lunch and other kinds
of recreation. Out of the remaining hours about two hours is allotted to language teaching in
which we have both the types of activities just described.
Continuous dialogue with the children is felt to be very important to let them systematically
organize their thoughts through books or without books. Children are introduced to the world
of books, which include telling and listening to stories, or reading other text, drawing pictures
on it, acting it out, etc. Trying to read and write in an organized way motivates children, to
move ahead towards becoming independent readers. The role of library is an integral part of
all these activities, both in context of learning to read, as well as when they learn to read and
goes to further levels. Thus, when children start learning, the focus is on the maximum use of
the library books. A variety of texts can be made available to children through which they can
be exposed to various information which enrich their knowledge. In order to provide such a
space where maximum use of the library is important after children have learnt to read.
Children are motivated to read, take books home, plan activities on the basis of the books
and have discussions. As classrooms have children of different levels, there may be different
activities at a time which are appropriate to the levels.
In Digantar, there is no use of textbooks. Library would comprise sets of books in the
classroom. The selection of books is together done by teachers and students. Activities are
then prepared on the basis of the books particularly by the teachers. Children may help the
teacher in all these activities and thus their learning proceeds to reading and writing. One
problem that was faced at a point is that when the number of schools increased in Digantar,
and new teacher were recruited, it was felt that they were not able to carry out these programmes
in an organized way. They found it very difficult to manage with kind of books that were
available in Digantar. Thus, as a solution to this problem textbooks were developed.
At present we are adopting a mixed approach where we use both, the textbooks as well as the
open space. A package for primary levels is being developed which consists of four books to
teach reading and writing at the initial stages. A set of books are also developed on the basis
of which teachers can select more books and plan activities. For eample, there may be fifteen
to twenty story books kept together with a detailed note attached which gives suggestions on
the types of activities that can be carried out. They can start, either with the first book or the
twentieth book as per their wish. They also have the freedom to use the activities suggested
in the note, or design their own activities. There are about nine thousand children books in
the Digantar Central Library. The books in the classroom are replenished by constantly getting
books issued from the Central Library and depositing back the old ones. It is a continuous
process. Other collections such as essays, plays, etc. will also be added as we proceed with
the development of the package. Through these processes we intend to make the experience
of learning more meaningful and interesting.
However, we have not been successful in all our endeavors. In some cases, children did not
learn in the way we had expected them to do. The processes were not carried out in the way
it was designed to do so. Most of the time, the teachers were found not to fully understand
the processes aimed at and were not comfortable in handling the programmes. Another problem
was that the focus gets shifted to the textbooks from the other books provided. However,
attempts are to solve these problems and improve the situation.
We also feel that the books, at least in the elementary education and in context of school
education, are not only for enjoyment. They have an important role to play in the development
of child’s knowledge and in the enrichment of her language. For the purpose of this
presentation, we will look only at the library in the context of elementary education.
These experiences are in the context of the Digantar schools. Let us now look at the Library
Project in the government schools of Fagi block. We are implementing library project in
seventy five government schools in the Fagi block, under which about three hundred books
are provided in each school. One representative goes to these schools once a week, issues
and deposits books to the children, and carries out various activities like role-plays, discussion
on the books, etc. for the whole day. It is expected that teachers would carry out these activities
during the rest of the weekdays. Unfortunately, it was observed that teachers get involved in
these activities very rarely. Their involvement seems to be limited only to the issue and
deposit of books. The library project has not been implemented successfully till now and we
have been constantly engaged in trying to find out better ways to handle the project and
implement the programmes effectively.
One problem with regards to the library project is that the selection of the texts has not taken
into consideration the environment in which the children are situated. The library seems to
be more of a symbolic figure than a space where it is fully utilized for the enrichment of
knowledge or development of comprehension and learning to read and write. The library in
this case represents a very restricted image of library to the children as well as to the parents.
From a pedagogic point of view, it is very far from being utilized.
Now the question is why this project was accepted. When we started working with the
government schools, it was found that children could not read even when they have reached
Classes IV and V. Their ability to read it was limited only to decoding only. They could not
comprehend and derive meaning from the text. The major reason for such a situation was
found to be lack of enough exposure of the children to the written text and an organized way
of working on the texts. Our limitations regarding the resources was that we could not provide
enough number of books to the government schools as we could to the Digantar schools.
Also, these schools were seventy kilometers away from the Digantar Center Library making it
very inconvenient for ready access to the books. So, in such a situation, the best thing that we
could do was to provide about three hundred books to each government school and make use
of them in the best, though limited, ways.
To improvise the program, we made some modifications in it. We tried to have a room in each
school where books can be kept and children can interact with the books in a respectable
manner. Books were kept in a box in the room and made available to the children all the time,
whether the representative from Digantar is in the school or not. If we could not get the room
in any school, we tried to get the space when our representative could interact with the
children at least for a day in a week. We also tried to develop that space as an activity center,
rather than just a library where along with the circulation of books, we tried to include different
activities based on the books or without books, such as reading, discussions, acting out,
drawing pictures, playing games etc. Overall, it had a positive effect and the learning skills of
children improved tremendously. Children also developed interest in books and schools.
From the pedagogical point of view, it is important that at least in the elementary school, it
should be a respectable space a room, where 1500- 2000 books should be there and the
books should be on various topics. The person in charge of the library should not only be
issuing or depositing the books but also be capable of engaging the children in various activities.
Library should also be accessible to children all the times during as well as after school timings.
This process may seem difficult to carry out in the context of government schools. The
organizations working in this field can get together and negotiate with the government and
run quality libraries in order to do justice with the academic use of library to some extent.
Discussion
Pushpraj, Vidya Bhawan: You have said in your presentation that playing with books, picture
reading, etc. are not considered as reading in Digantar. However, but in the next part of your
presentation, you also talked about providing books to the children for them to play, act out,
discuss about what they see in pictures, etc. in the government schools also where you are
working. How does the two parts link to each other?
Ajay: Though we do not consider those activities as part of reading, we still consider them
essential. It does not imply that these activities should not happen. Interpreting or describing
a picture in not considered reading.
Mr. Vinayak, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, Andhra Pradesh
This presentation is an account of experiences with classroom libraries and its impact on the
schools in Andhra Pradesh. Schools in Andhra Pradesh do now have libraries per say. There
are some wooden boxes in which books are kept. In most of the schools, children are not
allowed to read these books. When the SSA group visited the schools, it was found that most
of the children were unable to read and write properly even at the levels of Classes V, VI and
VII.
In this context, our main focus was on the importance of language and language development
in the schools. For this purpose, the Children Language Improvement Programme was launched
in 2005 and approached the situation with a critical understanding about the language, reading,
and libraries. An interaction with the teachers and children revealed that the understanding
of the teachers regarding language was in keeping with the typical notions of language and
reading: language is meant for communication; only fluent reading or reading fast without any
mistakes is considered as reading. The attitude towards language development is also in keeping
with these notions. Thus, a need was felt for a pedagogical shift in teaching-learning process
in the school system. We identified learning as dependent on the language development of
the child and this has an impact on other areas of learning and development
In the light of these observations, it was felt necessary to focus on the development of
reading of the children. It was observed that children did not have any space to read books
other than the textbooks during school time. Thus, as the first step, a particular period was
allotted for the children to read books other than textbooks. The second challenge was the
issue of library. As mentioned earlier, most of the books were kept in boxes but some were
not available all the time. There was no effort to know about the nature of books, whether
they were suitable for the children, or whether these books could motivate the children to
read.
Because of the demand of the programme, the books were brought out from the boxes and
brought to the classrooms. The teachers were asked to provide the books to the children
during the reading period and interact with the children. They were to observe the children
and their activities carefully during these interactions. During this interaction, an interesting
observation was made. When the books were given to the children, most of the books were
rejected by the children. These books were received through the OBB Scheme. CBT and
NBT books were provided. The children did not show any interest in going through the
books. There was no curiosity in them to discover the books. A little survey was conducted in
the schools to find out the possible reasons for such a reaction from the children. On inspection,
the teachers found that these books were translated texts and lacked local contexts which the
children could identify themselves with. The teachers were then asked to give local newspapers
as reading materials to the children. This also was problematic as teachers found that the
children did not take any interest in any other articles in the newspaper other than the page on
cinema or cricket. Thus, it became a big challenge to procure appropriate books which the
children would accept and supply them to the schools.
Towards this direction, we got a press statement released for the publishers who develop the
books on children’s literature or books for schools, to send the copies to the schools. A
committee was appointed to select the books. In order to be sure that the books would not
get rejected by the children, the selected books were taken to the children so that they go
through the selection and give their opinions. To our surprise, most of the books were rejected
by the children. These children wrote to us the reasons for their rejection of the books.
On the occasion of children’s day on November 14, a state competition for the children on
creative writing was held. Children wrote on whatever they felt about various topics. These
writings from the schools in each block were collected and later edited. Some of the best
ones were selected and sent to DIET.
In order to identify the writings of the children and edit them a forum called the Children
Literature Forum was formed. We identified about ten to fifteen people in each district to be
members of that forum. Some of the members were recognized children’s book writers.
Unfortunately, their writings also happen to be some of the materials that children rejected.
Thus, a training programme was organized to orient the forum towards children’s attitude
and interest. They were also oriented to be sensitive to the nature of books and reading
materials that would be of interest to children.
After the orientation the members of the forum identified the appropriate materials from the
children’s writings, edited them and made them ready for printing. After these materials were
printed, they were sent to the schools on a pilot basis. In each district, hundred schools were
selected for the purpose of assessing the impact of reading materials in the schools. Interesting
findings emerged from this experiment. It was found that children did not prefer writings,
stories or poems that preach and come with moral messages and values. They seem to like
books which have stories which are fun, and which engage them by developing a sense of
questioning and curiosity in the children. One text they particularly liked is a book from
Eklavya, ‘Maa kaun hai’in which a hen searches for its mother.
These experiences seem to suggest that most of the available books in the market have not
succeeded in creating any sort of interest in children. It is also clear that the way children
perceive the world is very different form the way adults do. What we think as true in our
opinion need not be so for the child. Thus, it is very important to understand children and
their perspectives when we provide reading materials for them. The best way to get the right
materials we felt would be to get the stories from children themselves by making them write
stories based on their own thoughts, ideas and experiences. With this aim the above discussed
process was carried out.
We have also been conducting a weekday celebration of libraries called ‘Vrindalaya’ since
last year. Classroom libraries instead of school libraries were established. Since setting up of
school libraries might end up like the wooden box story, the classroom libraries were set up so
that the books were available to the children easily. These books were also categorized
according to the level of classes to which the children belonged.
The maintenance of these libraries was handled by setting up a ‘Library Club’. Two to three
children of each class formed a group. This group would arrange the books in a sequential
order, record the names, issue them to the rest of the children and collects them back. Thus,
children themselves maintain the library in the classrooms.
One important aspect of this kind of system is the classroom processes where there are
children at different levels of learning. Some children could read properly, some could not
read properly, and some could not read at all. The question which arises here is about conducting
the classroom process where there are such varying levels divided the children into different
groups. The children who could read and write properly were called independent readers.
They picked up the books on their own and they were allowed to do whatever they wanted to
with the books. The second group consists of those children who have some competency in
reading and collaborative reading process was adopted. The third group of children comprises
those who could not read properly or not at all. This group is facilitated by the teacher.
The teacher does not pick any book but asks the students to choose the book they would like
to read. One of the children picks up the book from the classroom library, and the teacher
and children sit together to go through the book together. The teacher initiates the discussion
talking about the pictures and asking certain questions and then children reply. Then, the
teacher and children both together read the texts in the books during the period.
Another important aspect of the process is reading with activities. This will help the child in
developing the capacity to think and conceptualize. We believe that language is not only for
communicating but also a tool to think and express. Thought, expression, imagination and
creativity are the fundamental abilities we expect from a child. Our aim is to make this book
reading session help in the development of such abilities in children. We also focus on post-
reading activities in the classroom process such as sharing, drawing, writing, rewriting, or
creating a visual form of the text, etc.
The reading activities are also linked to writing. The child is asked to write a page about her
opinion or experience regarding a book. These pages that are written by children is called
‘Children Diary’. From a ‘Children Diary’ we could find out which book she read and what
she feels about what she read. This exercise helps in bringing into the activity of reading
some other form of discourse, the written language.
Most of the teachers did not identify the link between library reading and language
development, and felt that language development could be achieved only through textbook
teaching. But in the process we have adopted, textbook teaching is minimal and language
development process depends on more reading materials: allowing children to read, share
experiences, and write about them on their own. There is no focus on identification of the
mistakes. Now, the teachers are being sensitized regarding the libraries and its importance.
They have been making efforts to read and understand the nature of language. The effect of
these efforts can be seen during the classroom process.
We are working with about seventy thousand government schools, and deal with about one
crore and twenty lakhs children. From our experience we can say that to change the system
and bring about some development, capacity building programmes and regular interactions
are very necessary. Problems should be identified and addressed.
The programme created for the special utilization of the reading period is called READ
(Read, Enjoy and Develop) Programme. There is no link with the examinations, or with any
authoritarian body. The teacher and children go through the materials, and read it carefully
and enjoy the process. These experiences are in the context of Andhra Pradesh. We are in the
initial stages and a lot more have to be done. We have established several forums such as
Subject Forums, Language Forum, Maths Forum, Science Forum, Social science Forum, Hindi
Forum etc. Systematic reform starts with ideological change in the system. And with this
belief, we have started making the move towards the direction of change for the better in the
state of Andhra Pradesh.
Discussion
Vijay Varma: I would like to complement the last speaker for the fantastic work that his
organization is doing and their approach to development of reading skills among children.
Your efforts in giving primacy to child , if you could institutionalize this, even to the extent
that you manage to do, is commendable and something which should be at least examined by
other organizations to see how successful it is with them.
5 October 2008
Session 3
Chairperson: Prof. Amitabha Mukherji
Speakers: Ms. Rupa, Teacher, MC Primary School, Delhi
Mr. Gurminder Singh, associated with UNICEF Mid day meal project, Bihar
Ms. Shushma Sharma, Librarian, Pratibha Vikas Vidhyala Delhi
Title: The role of knowledge repositories for broadcasting the seeds of learning
in children
Ms. Rupa
This presentation is an attempt to share the experience of working with class II children with
special reference to reading and children’s literature. Some of the related questions which
came up regarding teaching this class were: how should the teaching of reading to the children
start? What are the appropriate methods or approaches which can be used to facilitate reading
and writing in the classroom? How can other language skills be developed, so that language
learning becomes a joyful and a pleasurable experience.
During this time, an experience with a short term teacher’s research fellowship from USRN
helped in developing an approach through which processes of language learning were made
beneficial as well as enjoyable.
My research topic was providing scaffolding to children towards the step of silent reading to emerge as
fluent and independent reader. This research argues that silent reading helps in developing fluency
and comprehension skills in children and making them understand what reading actually is.
However, the first problem in teaching the class II children was that they did not have any
background of education at home. They were all first generation learners. Parents of some
children could be considered literate to the extent that they could write their names and read
to a very negligible extent. They were not able to help their children in learning.
In order to take the children to the level where they could read independently, certain activities
were used as methods for the purpose. The main objectives of this research were as follows:
– To observe how children read in order to understand their perception about reading
– To explore various methods to promote reading of Hindi for the students of class II
and taking them to the step of silent reading.
– To explore the role of children’s literature in the development of reading and interest
in reading
– To create a print rich environment for the children to facilitate language learning in
class room.
The approach adopted was based on the components of whole language approach. Before
going further, let us look at certain teaching practices that are prevailing in the present school
system. There are many assumptions about reading by teachers and students. Reading is
considered to be speaking of printed text accurately and fluently. Read aloud and chorus
reading is a common practice and basic phonological skills are considered to be a prerequisite
to reading. It is also considered to be the mastery of different sub skills in a linear pattern
from lower to higher. Thus, in the present school situation, reading process is the one where
mastery over basic skills of reading would lead to the higher level of reading where you can
read the whole text cannot take place in a vacuum with a single word or single sound. Reading
would be meaningful only in a context, and reading without a context is not a meaningful
exercise.
Reading is understood in the following sense according to this research: Reading can not be
broken into parts and takes place within a context. Certain skills can facilitate reading, but
they are not the only methods to teach reading. The act of reading should be joyful for the
reader and it should be able to develop interest in reading among the readers so that children
feel the need to read more and more. Ultimately, we want students to read books, and not the
reading of words or then sounds.
The methods that were used in the classroom to facilitate reading in the class were not
conducted step by step. These methods we used simultaneously with different approaches. I
started with the use of print-rich environment in which poems story corner, word wall, short
passages, and pictures were included. Poetry seemed to fascinate the children and poetry
reading and recitation were pleasant activities for them. The children also attempted to relate
the poems and stories with their own lives. Big charts of poems were put up in the classrooms
and children would read the poems together. Thus, the materials in the classroom were those
which are easily accessible to children, something which they can look at and touch and read.
A story corner was also set up in the class where the stories are changed weekly or monthly
depending on the needs of the children and the time they take in reading those stories. These
stories are picture based. Two picture based stories are put up at a time. The story books are
sometimes photo state copies of books or handwritten. One of the activities was to make the
children build stories on the basis of a picture shown to them. Another activity involved
giving stories to the children written as texts on the sheets that can be viewed by the children.
The children were aware that they would not get new stories until they finished reading the
old ones. So, they sometimes copied the story on their notebooks and took home where they
could ask some one for help in reading and understanding the stories. It could also be observed
that those children who could read the stories helped those who were not able to read on their
own. So, in a way peer learning also developed in the class.
‘Our corner’ was a special corner in the class where children’s work was published. A corner
of the class was reserved only for children’s work. Children could use this corner to put up
their writings: stories, poems, etc., so that their work could be shared with the whole class.
This proved to be a motivation for the children to write and create. They would write about
their dog, or elephant, or some other animal, or their kite, or ice-cream and many more things.
Though the writings were limited, they were always interesting.
Another method is concerned with children’s reading. A group reading was started along with
all the other activities. The whole class was divided into small groups. The leader of the
group would be a child who could read properly. Each group consisted of five to six children.
In this way, there were about eight groups in the class. In the group reading the leader would
read out the book in the center and other children would listen. Then, the book would be
circulated in the group and all the members read the book one by one. When the level of their
reading improved, the groups were broken, and pair reading by ‘reading buddies’ was started.
When children started group reading they also started helping each other in reading. Apart
from this method, read aloud was another method to make the children understand the printed
material. This method is necessary as looking at the text and not verbally producing the
sound of the words would leave one aspect of reading out of the whole exercise of reading.
Focused reading was started through ‘read aloud’ method in which I would read out the
stories. Sometimes all of us would read a common textbook. This would help the children to
be familiar with the sounds of particular words or letters when they read. Language experience
approach and visual literacy were used as an important tool. Inspired by Eklavya, an attempt
was made to develop books by children. So, an activity was conducted where children were
divided into groups and suggested themes on which they could write. It was a surprise to the
children to discover that they would have so many themes to write on. The children then
wrote on these themes and managed to develop many books. They also made illustrations for
the books and developed very colorful books. In due course, a sense of achievement could be
seen developing in the children in doing something e.g. writing book, which they always
associated with elders and knowledgeable people. This activity proved to be very popular
with the children and is continued till today. There were fifty five students in my class. By the
end of the session of Class II, most of were able to read independently.
A classroom library was also created in which books collected from different sources were
kept. New items are added from time to time. Any new addition is treated with joy and
curiosity by the children. Now, there are about one hundred and fifty to two hundred books in
our classroom library which are used by the children.. Now, these students are in class III and
most of them have read all the books. It is the responsibility of a teacher to maintain such
interest by providing them access to different sources of knowledge and involving them in
different activities.
It is rewarding to see that children now have a different idea about reading than they had in
the beginning. Earlier they thought that reading was speaking out a text properly. They now
can feel that sharing and expression are also part of reading. It is made compulsory in the
class that after every reading session, children should share whatever they have read with
their classmates, either independently or in groups. This would show whether they have
comprehended what they have read.
To conclude, on the basis of personal experience, I could say that classroom libraries would
prove to be very useful in primary classes. A teacher can play a very important role in making
it possible, as in these classes, one teacher is very closely associated with the children and
thus can form a special bond which would facilitate such an environment. In the school
where I work, one teacher teaches a particular group up to fifth class. That teacher is responsible
for teaching all the subjects to that group. So, the teacher can plan to include reading in the
class according to the development that she can see in the children. This teacher would best
understand what the interest and needs of these children are. A librarian may not be as
familiar with the child as the teacher may be. Teachers could provide materials according to
children’s needs and interests and thus sustain their interest in reading through different
activities. These activities of discussing and indulging with children might be more conveniently
done by the teacher than the librarian. Thus, a teacher plays a more important role in the
development of interest in reading and language skills, especially in the primary classes.
Gurminder Singh
In our country, most children bear with government schools and their curriculum. The situation
in private schools is no better. The books provided in these schools at the LKG and UKG
level do not seem to connect the child with the society.
Government curriculum is prepared by the government on the basis of its academic
understanding. These books are considered good but we do not try to understand why they
are considered good and if they are actually so. Books are continuously being published and
have been distributed in different geographical areas, communities, and different cultures.
There have been many discussions and efforts about constructing classrooms, rooms for
libraries and libraries etc. But the realizations of these efforts are yet to be seen in most
schools. There also has been the move to bring in the affects of ICT for the purpose. I have
had the experience of working in environments with computerized facilities and internet in
the University of Delhi, Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy in Mussoorie, and also an organization,
PGS, which works with the rural people in villages. However, it still needs to be seen whether
children have actually benefited from developments.
A discussion on reading materials has many a time been assumed to be as about textbooks by
some persons. It is not often that a child’s needs and wants are considered in the process.
Materials and activities that are provided need to be linked with children’s creativity and
knowledge.
There is a story in a book by Vygotsky. Once, the animals of a forest arranged an international
conference where a decision was taken to start a school. So a school was started. After much
confusion, they developed a curriculum where all the subjects were made compulsory. Thus,
different animals excelled in their fields. But, unfortunately, the animals could not do well in
categories other than their own. So, the small rabbit that stood first in racing in his class could
not do well in the swimming class. The rabbit abhorred swimming but he was forced to go
through the class each day. At the end, the rabbit lost its mental balance. Likewise, many
students in our country leave school and are called dropouts. Even new terms like ‘push-
outs’ and ‘kick-outs’ have also been used for them. Like the rabbit in the story many children
are victims of our education system.
Most of the government schools in the country, and particularly in the rural areas do not have
libraries. A survey of the condition of the elementary education in some states of India
showed this fact. In Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh, though some awareness could be
seen regarding the importance of schools and even of reading among children, there was no
library in the schools. This was also the case of Bhind district in Madhya Pradesh. In some
schools in Patna, Bihar, there were rooms which were 10 by 10 feet big with passages of 8 by
10 feet in front of the rooms, and about 150 students and 9 teachers in each school. It is not
difficult to see that it would be an extremely uncomfortable to sit or read in these given
spaces.
The kinds of materials or books that children want to read is an important area which teachers,
librarians and elders should pay heed to. In 2004, a children’s fair was organized in a public
school in Punjabi Bagh, New Delhi. There was a small book, ¬º· ¬ ¤¬i ¬¬` Twenty copies
of the book were sold on the first day and fifty on the second. A person who works in a library
was present there. A child picked up a book and asked him to give him the book. That person
was busy and not willing to pay any attention to the child. The child went away taking the
book. The title of the book was “¬¬’ii ·iº| ¬ nºi”. Coincidently, District Education Officer
was present on the occasion. He came over and showed his displeasure at the child being
given such a book to read. Now the problem is that the child is not being allowed to read
what he wanted to read. Only books, magazines, internet access, etc. are not the resources,
but teachers, librarians and others are also resources which should be accessible to children
when they need them.
It is a very unfortunate and sad fact that an institution like the education system also gets
entangled with fraud. For example, funds coming from the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan are being
utilized in the construction of buildings by school education committee, Bihar and a teacher
is appointed as the contractor of that building. At present, a number of teachers in many
states are being legally charged with fraud in fund utilization process. In Jammu and Kashmir,
the trainer who gives trainings to the teachers or BRC or CRC staff was asked what the length
and width of a certain window was. The responses varied from one foot to five hundred
meters.
In most of the government or non government schools in the states there is no librarian. The
situation is bad to the extent that a PT teacher acts as the storekeeper of the library, as well
as the librarian.
Library legislation is an important step towards developing libraries in schools. Everybody
accepts that each school should have a library. Every child has the right to get books from the
library to read but not just those purchased by the SSA where Rs. 15000 to 20000 are allocated
each year for book purchase and 700 books are purchased on 20% commission. This should
not be the process. This is a weapon for killing the spirit of the library.
Which books to buy and what to buy is a big question and we have been listening to this for
2-3 days, but till now I have no answer for it. It is high time that we see to it that libraries are
set up in schools not only on paper but in reality too. These libraries should be accessible to
children even after the school timings, so that children can make use of them as and when
they want.
In most cases, librarians are data entry operators. All the entries have to be made, including
name of the authors, the books, cost of the books, number of pages, date of purchase, pages
missing, etc. So, the librarian is busy most of time looking after these entries. It should be
made known and emphasized that a librarian is also a teacher who must be knowledgeable
enough to handle queries from children and help them in their learning process. In this regard,
the librarian should be well-equipped and be provided with appropriate and adequate resources.
Sushma Sharma
Home is the first institution of a child. It is through this institution that the child makes her
first contact with the world where she learns her first lessons in life. It is believed that books
should be introduced to children even as toddlers at home. They expose them to an environment
of reading and act as the first step towards developing an interest in books and reading.
Lullabies, grandmother’s tales and folk songs are oral expressions introduced to children, to
inculcate basic human values like honesty, tolerance, friendship, cooperation, respect for
elders, love for nature, etc.
This paper stresses the importance of libraries in dealing with children’s literature. It would
look at the community information centers, community information services, library
collaboration, libraries, NGOs and school libraries system. It also gives a diagram showing
networking link in multiple children library system suggested for the state of Delhi. Many
NGOs, libraries, school libraries and other institutions have the same objective of developing
interest in the child for reading. It would be fruitful if there is collaboration, coordination and
networking among these bodies.
A children’s library should be a place where children can enjoy reading books and experience
an excitement of discovering the path to knowledge and letting their imagination fly. It should
be child friendly and in keeping with the United Nation’s declaration of the right of the child
to free and open access to information material. Children libraries should fulfill 3 Es: Education,
Ethics and Entertainment. And therefore, a children’s library can be set up at any place where
children can get books to read and enjoy. It could be on a mat, at the bus stop, under a tree or
in a children’s park.
According to fifty years of book publishing in India since independence, about 11000 publishers
in India have brought out nearly 60,000 titles in a year. To be more specific, 57,386 books
were published in the country in 17 Indian languages and English. It is estimated that 42% of
Delhi’s population is children. There are 20,16,849 children in the age group of 0 to 6 years
of whom 18,58,689 live in the urban area of NCR according to the economic survey of
Delhi Planning Department of Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi.
From the above data, we can see that the number of books published is not proportionate to
children’s requirement. A survey was conducted in ten institutions on the teaching of books.
There are many NGOs which do not work with children but publish children’s books. We will
come to this point later.
It is very important to understand and identify the challenges we have before seeking solutions
and strategies. There is also the need to identify personal and professional issues that may
confront us and require us to revaluate our performance.
Out of the ten institutions chosen for the survey, four were libraries: National Centre for
Children’s Literature (NCCL) of National Book Trust, National Bal Bhawan, Delhi Public
Library, British Library, four NGOs: Evik, Pratham, Butterfly and Child Relief and You
(CRY), and two school libraries: Delhi Public School (DPS) and Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas
Vidyalaya, (RPVV) libraries. Not elaborating on the NGOs, the following discussion would
throw some light on the publication work.
The NCCL library cum documentation center of NBT consists of some of the best selected
children’s literature from forty countries in twenty four foreign and twenty Indian languages.
The primary objective of this center is to collect and make available joyful Indian and foreign
materials and expertise to the publishers, authors, illustrators, and others interested for rapid
and balanced development of children’s literature available to parents, teachers, educationists
and planners. There are four activities that the NCCL is involved with for broadcasting the
seeds of learning:
– The school library program in Lok Jumbish, Rajasthan.
– The link library program in DPEP West Bengal,
– The accompanying activities, like story telling, puppetry, etc.
– The Bal Sahitya Anand Yatra which is the mobile van service for the rural areas etc.
As a result of the efforts by NCCL, or NBT, children started demanding books from teachers.
Teachers also started bringing out the books out of the boxes, and displaying them in the
classroom. An interest in books and reading was seen developing among children. School
libraries soon became important enough for discussions in the block and cluster meetings.
There are fifty two Bal Bhawan Kendras under the National Bal Bhawan are located in the far
flung areas of Delhi. The Bal Bhawan movement is not limited to the areas where these
centers are, but also extended to various other parts of India.
Among the NGOs, Pratham has a large number of publications on children’s literature with
very good content and quality of paper thus attracting children towards reading.
One school I would like to mention is Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya (RPVV), Surajmal
Vihar. This school was started in 1997. By 2007, there were nineteen more Pratibha Schools,
started by Delhi Government. These schools were set up with the objective of educating
children from underprivileged and socio economically backward families with the belief that
these children are capable of achieving provided they receive adequate support and exposure.
This school has developed a library and information center named Ranganathan Kaksh. Besides
developing a library cum documentation center of children’s literature, it is also engaged in
organizing workshops and exhibitions and promoting the habit of reading at school level.
The structure of the Ranganathan Kaksh comprises three types of libraries: class library,
faculty library and reference library. Every faculty has its own library that is well maintained.
Along with other activities, the reference library has a readers club, an informal book corner,
which consists of pictures with interesting captions, story telling sessions, etc.
Children can also be given written instructions other than the usual ones, like Keep Silence. For
example, they can be told to keep a book in their hands always so that it can be readily
available when they want to read a book, say, while waiting for the school bus. They can also
be told to decide to read certain portion everyday. They can set a challenge and reward
themselves by giving themselves a treat in the form of a good coffee or a pen from the
market, etc.
Children can also be told to write their experiences without any imposition. If they have the
board and chalk available, they would readily write their experiences. I have observed the
following expressions written by children on the board: ¬i¬ -· ¤¬ l¤l·¤i (ªi|+ ¬¬ -º ·iº - ¤¬
¬-ni ¬i¤i ·ii+ Children write these type of small sentences, and feel very happy doing so.
A library need not have a room as a space. One can even have five to ten books in a bag on
the shoulder and try to develop reading habits in a child.
Another activity which can be put to use is lunch break reading corner. Children in RPVV
come to the reader club and read during the lunch break. For this purpose, they even finish
their lunch quickly. Here, they can come and read whatever they want on their own will.
There is no formality of issuing of book.
There is no substitute for books but these books must reach children. Only then, they can
develop a love for books. And once this relationship between children and books is established,
it will be a life long affair. The need of the hour is to join hands and devise methods to
develop interest in books and inculcate reading habit in children.
5 October 2008
Open House
Chairperson: Prof. Amitabha Mukherjee, University of Delhi
Harshvardhan, Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi: I have one suggestion: the way every
class has a monitor, why don’t we appoint a monitor in library also so that he as well as other
students would be attracted to reading? This can be done every week so that students get
interested in reading.
Unknown: After three days experience of this seminar, one can feel that library cum activity
centers are more needed in the villages. Efforts in this direction should acquire the form of a
movement. There can be some resource agencies that can help in developing such library
cum activity centers in the villages. A network should be established where the states, which
can act as catalysts also, have such institutes.
Govind, VBERC: In order to develop interest for reading in children, adults should also be
motivated to take interest and develop a reading habit. Being a member of Education resource
center, I would like to suggest that a certain amount of time in a week be allotted to reading,
say one hour, when members keep their other activities aside and spend the time in reading.
People hesitate to read due to various reasons. However, it would be a meaningful effort if
the environment for reading could be developed on a regular basis.
Deepak Vashistha, Punjab: We have learnt many new things during this seminar and many of
our questions have got answered. Such events should also be organized at the state levels,
even in small groups, and take them to the grassroots level. We can also make an effort in
taking out certain activities from the confines of the schools. We are trying to start a programme
where every Saturday would have a Bal Sabha during which activities centered around reading
would be carried out the whole day. The whole center would be used as a venue. Library
would be called a reading room so that it is no longer restricted by the nomenclature and a
new way of looking at it emerges.
Dr. Kuldeep Singh, Punjab: This seminar has given rise to a lot of issues, which could also be
argued further, and it would certainly happen. It has also motivated us and provided a bulk of
materials related to libraries. However, an inaugural session would have helped to some extent
to get people familiarized with each other. Also, some kind of programme or activities could
be organized for discussing the issues related to the seminar. During the seminar, too, the
time for discussions was very little. Many thought provoking issues cropped up, and let us
hope discussions on these issues and understanding would continue in future.
T.D. Talwani, Mohan Lal Sukhadia University, Udaipur: The past three days have given us a
various important and informative lectures. While the issues of reading and classroom reading
have been much discussed, the issue of the situation of the libraries needed to be discussed
more. Issues such as condition of libraries, availability of the librarians, whether libraries
could be run without librarians, etc. are issues related to the process of reading and needed to
be discussed. Very often in the absence of a trained librarian, a teacher is given the additional
work of a librarian. India has a number of universities offering Bachelor’s and Master’s courses
in library science. Still, we do not have enough number of trained librarians in the country.
In Rajasthan, the post of the librarian has been removed even from the secondary schools
which leaves the primary schools nowhere in the picture. Various legislations, passed with
regards to the development of libraries, have led to no significant results. As pointed out in
one of the papers, teachers and librarians are complementary to each other. It is not just the
teachers who can develop reading habits; the librarians can also play an important role in the
effort. Absence of trained librarians makes it difficult to achieve this objective.
Manohar, ICICI Primary Education Center: Firstly, I would like to point out that because of
the theoretical discussions in the first sessions, the practitioners, who are actually practicing
those theories in the field, got less time in the second session. Secondly, along with issues
about the concept of library, the issue of conceptualization of the teacher as the librarian has
also emerged in this conference. In the light of the discussions regarding the situation, we
need to think whether a librarian is needed in primary schools, or a teacher can perform the
role of the librarian etc.
Anju Aroda, Librarian, Delhi Government School: The seminar has been very successful in
making the connection between libraries and reading habit. However, during the process the
role of the librarian has not been dwelt upon well enough. Role of the librarian is essential
for development of reading habits in the students; there could have been some focus on this
aspect.
Pavan Kumar, Saint John’s School, Delhi: It is agreed that reading habits and library are
interconnected with each other. But if we go to the level of individual subjects there can be
a problem. For example, reading habit with regards to Math is very typical and it is difficult
for a teacher to convince students about the same. So, in such a situation, there can be some
subject specific efforts to promote reading habit and develop interest in it.
A.L. Khanna, Delhi – My suggestion is regarding how the papers in the forenoon session
could have been handled. I personally feel that many of the people who wanted to ask
questions were addressed to the speakers. They were deprived of the opportunity of addressing
these questions to the speaker. Secondly, two presentations based on experiments were
particularly very good. One of them was by Shehnaz and the other was the Andhra experiment.
I think we can learn a lot from these two experiments; they have really opened up new vistas
of knowledge.
Sanjay Sethi, Delhi: Do the NGOs want to work with libraries or in place of librarians? Many
presentations have also dwelt on situation where teachers work as librarian. The topic seems
to have been sidetracked. The discussion about reading did not deal with reading in relation
to school libraries.
Unknown: The organization of the structure of the seminar is commendable. It was a
constructive process that panel discussion was followed by reflecting on questions and answers
sessions, and then followed by a group discussion. This kind of structure if applied in
classrooms may prove helpful in conducting teaching learning process.
Secondly, if some of the reference books regarding the key presentations could be made
available here, it would be useful for the participant in learning more about the issues raised.
Also, if everybody develops his or her own conceptual note based on the presentations,
discussions, readings, sharing group work etc., it would contribute to personal development.
Display of some of the related books regarding reading, language development, and school
libraries would also be a helpful. Good children literature books, say, developed by Eklavya,
and Vidya Bhawan and others could also be helpful for the participants. Another topic which
could have been a part of this seminar is the nature of literature and the profile of children’s
literature: what kind of children’s literature is useful for children, why children reject the
books available in the present market, etc. It may be useful for the participants, and particularly
for the children’s books writers and teachers, who promote reading habit in children.
In the context where we are talking and discussing about reading and libraries, there is a need
to conduct a children convention, maybe in Vidya Bhawan or Eklavya, about books in which
children can participate and also be exposed to different types of books available here. They
can get involved in discussions about the nature of books. There can also be presentations by
children and some of the researchers. Such a programme may also be an opportunity to
understand children better and thus may help in further development.
An open website for updating children’s literature and school library processes can also be
developed. There can also be a children’s book fair once or twice a year. The studies and
research done on reading with regards to children can also be compiled and shared among
people who are working in the area.
Sarita Dube, District Librarian, Raipur, Chhattisgarh: I would like to suggest that community
participation should also be given importance in the development of libraries. According to
an act, libraries will be set up in all 27000 schools. So, this conference has provided a lot of
idea and information which would prove immensely useful in this regard.
Inder Mohan Singh Chabra, VBERC: It has been said that a good teacher is one who asks
good questions. So, when a teacher asks good questions it inspires children to read and explore
books. I would like to give an example, which is from a personal experience. We had one such
good teacher. He would tell us to read a particular book, which was not in the syllabus, and he
would give questions from that book. So, we would search for that book and read it. This
made us realize that there were other books apart from the ones prescribed in the syllabus.
Otherwise, we had believed that we should read only the prescribed textbooks for exams.
Another issue is the issue of regional languages. In India, which has a large number of different
languages and language variations, getting books in English is not difficult, but it is not easy
to find books in regional languages. Mr. Pannalal who works in our organization has translated
the Banjara stories, written in Devnagari, into Mewari and Marwari. Now, if libraries are to be
promoted and promoted everywhere, then such steps should be taken. It is also important in
the context of the three language formula where children from the rural background usually
do not feel comfortable with Hindi as one of the languages. So, in order to promote literature
we have to move forward in this direction.
Suruchi Sharma, Senior Librarian, Baroda: It might be convenient to have the collection of
papers to be presented in the seminar before the seminar begins. In this way, the audience
would have already read papers before they come to the seminar understand them better.
Rajni, Vidya Bhawan Education Resource Center: In last three day’s discussion, it is clear
that every school should have a library. It was also clear from Prof. Krishna Kumar’s talk that
our surroundings at home or school are not conducive to the culture of library and reading.
However, while we talked about librarians we did not discuss enough that school should
have libraries. Every school does not have a library, and whenever libraries, there are. They
are merely keeping books then. Libraries in many schools are not used properly in the sense
that there is hardly anybody in the school to use the space. Libraries need to be linked with
reading. It is not enough to have this space, it is also equally important to have teachers and
librarians who can understand children.
Dr. Hriday Kant Dewan: Thank you for all the suggestions. We will reflect upon them and
keep them in mind when we think of the next seminar. The seminar has been a success
because of the tremendous hard work put in by lots of people, mainly from Vidya Bhawan
Education Resource Center and the Vidya Bhawan Institute of Advanced Study Education.
Many of them are perhaps not visible in this room because they are busy looking after the
event. .
We are also grateful to the people in Krishi Vigyan Kendra and the guest houses, who have
made all this possible by taking care of us through their hard work. It has been a fruitful three
days experience with discussions and deliberations. We are grateful to the patient audience
and presenters of papers in the seminar.
Prof. Amitabha Mukherjee: After three days intense discussion, this seminar is over now. So,
I formally declare this session closed by thanking all of you. I on behalf of Center for Science
Education & Communication would like to thank our partner Vidya Bhawan Society.