Kerala - Kochi   

‘Reading necessary for intellectual maturity’

— Photo: Vipin Chandran

We promise: District Collector M. Beena administering the Reading Day pledge to students at SRV High School in Kochi on Thursday.

KOCHI: Comprehensive reading is the base for intellectual maturity and cultural finesse of mankind, said P.S. Shyla, District Panchayat president.

She was speaking after inaugurating the Reading Day programme organised by the Department of Information and Public Relations, at SRV High School here.

Reading continues to be the main medium for creating awareness about the culture of the land and forming clear perspectives for the new generation. Solutions to many of the issues rising out of erosion in value system, as being witnessed today, could be found through reading, she said.

Reading a book could be equivalent to worshipping God, said literary critic M.K. Sanoo in his Reading Day message to the students. Reading can make us better human beings. It will mould one’s personality and help one to be a good human being first above positions and designations.

In a way, the members of the new generation are teachers to seniors, as the world’s future is in their hands. Only a young generation that can dream can ensure a just society and reading is the magic potion that can induce dreams, he said.

Education will be complete only through reading outside the academic curriculum, said District Collector Dr. M. Beena, adding that education is not restricted to classrooms, it should trigger the yearning for knowledge in each student.

Nine students in Ernakulam district won scholarships instituted by the State Government on P.N. Panicker Birth Centenary Year, said M. D. Murali, Deputy Director of Education.

The Deputy Mayor C.K. Manisankar, who is also the president of the District Library Council, presided. Dr. Beena administered the Reading Day pledge to the students.

Pushpakumari, assistant coordinator, Kudumbasree; Joy, superintendent, Department of Panchayat; P.J. Joseph, district chapter president, CNRI; Kochurani Mathew, assistant coordinator, Literacy Mission; T.P. Ramesh Mohan, principal, SRV High School; and Rosamma Abraham, principal, SRV Higher Secondary School; P. Vinod, District Information Officer; and Chandrahasan Vaduthala, Assistant Information Officer, spoke.

In another function held to mark the Reading Day, Gangan Prathap, Vice-Chancellor of Cochin University of Science and Technology, gave away awards to the winners of the reading competitions organised by the Ernakulam Public Library.

The president of Ernakulam Public Library A.D. Krishnan Asan presided. Lakshmi Devi Menon, faculty of Department of English, St. Teresa’s College, made a talk on ‘Pleasures of Reading’. C. Ramachandra Menon, vice-president and Ashok Cherian, secretary of Ernakulam Public Library, spoke.

Aysha Sherin of Bhavan’s Vidya Mandir, Giri Nagar, Varadarajan G., SRV High School, and Divya Aravind, Chinmaya Vidayalaya, Thripunithura won first prizes in short story reading in English and Aswathy, Mohammed Milathulath of Government HSS, Elamakkara, and Sruthi Anna Koshi of Nava Nirman School, Vazhakkala won prizes in reading Malayalam stories in the junior section.

Nandini R. Nair of Sacred Heart College, Thevara won first prizes in Malayalam and English reading competitions in the senior category. Meera U. Menon of Chinmaya, Thripunithura won second in Malayalam story reading and third in English. Neethu V.J. of Cochin College, won third prize in Malayalam story reading and Sudheesh S. Mallaya won second prize in English.

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