UP government makes newspaper reading mandatory in schools to enhance knowledge

Lucknow: In a bid to enhance knowledge and reduce mobile addiction among students, the Uttar Pradesh government has issued new guidelines making it mandatory for primary and secondary school students to read newspapers.

To foster a reading culture and keep children away from excessive mobile use, the state government has implemented this new measure. Additional Chief Secretary of the Education Department, Parth Sarathi Sen Sharma, has issued the directive, ensuring that Hindi and English newspapers are available in every school library.

As per the new guidelines, students will read newspapers for 10 minutes during morning prayer time. They will go through key news including local, national, international updates, and sports in a rotational manner.

Furthermore, students will engage in a ‘word practice of the day,’ selecting five complex words from the newspaper, which will be displayed on the notice board for pronunciation practice.

This initiative aims to improve students’ general knowledge, vocabulary, concentration, social awareness, and critical thinking. It also prepares them for competitive exams, making them more attentive to misinformation and fake news.

The guidelines further suggest that schools should organize activities like group discussions, writing exercises, and even competitions such as sudoku or word puzzles, for students from grades 9 to 12. In addition to newspaper reading, schools are encouraged to publish daily or weekly newspapers as part of student engagement.

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