Under the Samagra Shiksha, provisions have been made for library grant to government schools so as to inculcate reading habit among students of all ages and to strengthen school libraries, including purchase of books. The provisions under the scheme for books and libraries in Government schools is provided up to @ Rs. 5,000/- for primary school, up to @ Rs.10,000/- for upper primary school, up to @ Rs. 13,000/- for composite elementary schools (Class I to VIII), up to @ Rs. 10,000/- for Secondary school (Class 9th and 10th), up to @ Rs. 15,000/- for class 6th to 12th school, up to @ Rs. 15,000/- for class 6th to 10th school, up to @ Rs. 15,000/- for composite Secondary Schools (class 1 to 10th), up to @ Rs. 15,000/- for composite Secondary Schools (class 9th to 12th), up to @ Rs. Rs.10,000/- Senior Secondary school only (class 11 and 12th) and up to @ Rs. 20,000/- for composite Senior Secondary school (class 1 to 12th). Guidelines have been issued in 2018 for Library Grant to all States and UTs.
The States / UTs have been advised to make guidelines for use of libraries in schools including number of periods, to be earmarked as library period in schools. To promote the habit of reading in students, States and UTs have been advised to set up Reader’s club with the help of National Centre for Children’s Literature (NCCL) which is a wing of National Book Trust (NBT).
The ‘Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat’ (PBBB) is a sub-programme of erstwhile Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) which is continued under the new integrated scheme Samagra Shiksha to ensure quality at the foundational years of schooling. The objectives of the programme are to promote early reading and writing with comprehension skills in children, and also basic numeracy skills. States/ UTs are implementing PBBB in their respective States/UTs using multiple strategies and approaches. These include adoption of NCERT model of early reading, provision of supplementary reading material, development of State specific models for early Maths and early reading, collaboration with organizations like UNICEF etc.
Central Government has taken various steps towards the implementation of the programme of PBBB, which inter-alia, include preparation of special bridge materials for States having a high tribal population; provisioning of free textbooks, development and procurement of supplementary reading material; in-service teacher training; having dedicated teachers for foundational classes and maintaining the required Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) as prescribed under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009.
The information was given by the Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
