BSS, Dhaka :
Over 58 per cent girls of the eight lakh students from class six to ten read extra curriculum books in 2014 under a reading habit development programme of the government, official sources said.
In 2014, some 8,10,000 students of 6,680 schools of 125 upazilas read extra curriculum books regularly and of the total readers 58 per cent are girl students, they said.
According to the sources, the World Bank financed Secondary Education Quality and Access Enhancement Project (SEQAEP) of Ministry of Education launched a programme in 2010 to develop reading habit of students from class VI to X in 125 upazilas of the country.
“This is a good sign that the girl students are reading more and participating in the reading habit development programme of SEQAEP and the authorities must continue its effort to increase the number readers,” said Education Secretary Nazrul Islam Khan.
He said the government is encouraging students to read extra curriculum books as it not only help build a knowledge based society but also help make creative and open mind of students.
Laying emphasis on increasing the number of students to read extra curriculum books by using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Khan said initiative is being taken to convert most of the books into e-book.
Due to excellent progress the reading habit development programme to read extra curriculum book is being extended to another 3,300 schools of 90 upazila next year, said SEQAEP Director Md. Shahid Bakhtiar Alam.
He said SEQAEP in collaboration with Biswa Sahitya Kendro has supplied 12 lakh copies of book to 6,680 schools and 11 lakh 75 thousand copies of book as reward to 6 lakh 34 thousand readers so far.
“The education ministry undertakes the SEQAEP to build reading habit of students as the existing library facilities in most of the schools and madrashas are inadequate,” he said.
President of Biswa Sahitya Kendro Abdullah Abu Sayeed said reading books create thoughtfulness and help develop the students as worthy citizen. The significance of the reading habit development programme of SEQAEP is that 58 per cent girl students of the 81,000 readers have become member to read book regularly, he added.
SEQAEP in collaboration with Biswa Sahitya Kendro have been working to develop reading habit of students from class VI to X and the programme is being extended in another 90 upazilas next year due to its effectiveness.
The sources said the reading habit development programme is a component of SEQAEP launched by the Education Ministry in 2008 to improve the quality of education.
