Fair choice for school library books

Ranchi: Students of 150 schools in the district will get a chance to choose library books at the book fair inaugurated at Balkrishna Plus Two High School on Friday. Spread across two days, the initiative is part of the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA).
Earlier, Aradhna Patnayak, the secretary of human resources development department, had issued a circular to all the district education officers across the state asking them to hold book fairs in their district wherein students of government schools between Classes IX and XII could choose suitable books for their school libraries.Following this, the fair was held in Ranchi.
Ashok Singh, programme in-charge of the fair, said, “Headmasters of more than 60 schools have come with some of their students and are looking for books that would be helpful for them. Students from other schools will come on Saturday. Once the students select the books and publishers, the headmasters will buy those books for their school library from a fund of Rs 10,000, which has been provided to them for the purpose.”
Twenty-two publishers from Delhi, Ghaziabad, Ranchi and Patna put up their stalls in the fair. The district education officer of Ranchi, Shiv Charan Marandi, who inaugurated the programme said, “Till date, the library books were chosen by the school administration, which did not prove to be of much help to the students. This project has been started with the objective of giving students the chance to select reference books for studies, thereby improving their performance.”
Every principal had to bring around five to 10 students from their schools and were selected on the basis of performance in class. Helen Kerketta, principal of Project Girls High School, Oppa, Chanho said, “I brought six girls with me after seeing their performance in studies and extra-curricular activities. We selected meritorious students, who like reading books.”
Pardesi Kumari, one of the participating students, said: “I always come first in my class and other students take my notes. Our library does not have many good books, which can help us in preparing notes and taking references. I am glad that I got a chance to come here so that I can select books that will help all the students in school.”
Various competitions like drawing, quiz, poetry and speech will also be organised in the book fair on both days