How we will utilise these books

Countless times, I was confronted with questions about the reason behind reading books from outside the school syllabus. Why should one do it? Just like why children should do theatre. I could not think of a direct answer back then. But as gradually, the first-generation readers started engaging more with the books, using elements of storytelling in classrooms. and interpreting characters and issues from the books to ask questions about the world around them, the answer was clear. Reading encourages independent thinking. it fuels development of diverse sensibilities. After all this time, we now have a dedicated weekly library session for each class in the school timetable, where we do collective read aloud sessions and use books to inspire creative expression. Most importantly, these books will help us bridge the gap between learning of English as a subject and really being able to understand it as a functional language. These books of different reading levels will specially help the library programme to engage more readers within the school and those readers who are school dropouts and now have no access to any kind of reading practice. Along with children, this will create an opportunity for local teachers, who have mostly received education in Urdu medium, to gain confidence in using English as their medium of instruction. You can really bring the joy of reading to our small mountain library.