Ranchi/Ramgarh: For half an hour on Tuesday, textbooks gave way to storybooks as more than 10.84 lakh people joined the statewide ‘Read-a-Thon’, the biggest event of the ongoing ‘Mere Shabd, Meri Kahani’ reading campaign.From 11-11:30 am, 10.38 lakh children read alongside teachers, parents, officials and community members in 11,708 govt schools, transforming classrooms into lively spaces for shared reading and storytelling.Campaign data showed that the participants included 23,059 teachers, 1,975 govt officials and nearly 9,800 community members. Launched on Aug 15, the initiative will continue till Sept 18.Schools across Ramgarh also joined the exercise, with children and adults reading together. Implemented by the Jharkhand Education Project Council in line with the National Education Policy 2020, the campaign covers students from Bal Vatika to Class XII.Officials said the aim was to take reading beyond textbooks and make it an enjoyable daily habit while improving comprehension, language, creativity, imagination and expression. “The objective is to enable children to read, understand, think and express their thoughts in their own words,” an official said.Activities include read-aloud and shared-reading sessions, word-story creation, QR-code story walls, student podcasts and programmes such as ‘Our Story in Our Words’ and ‘World of Stories’.Campaign nodal officer Avinav Kumar said reading for pleasure strengthens foundational skills needed across subjects. Ramgarh DSE Khushboo Kumari stressed that the involvement of teachers, parents and communities was essential to make reading part of children’s everyday lives and sustain the habit beyond school.
