Kottayam district panchayat launches reading initiative in 52 schools

KOTTAYAM The Kottayam district panchayat on Thursday (November 12) launched ‘Akshara Vettam’, a project to promote reading habits among school students, as part of its ‘Able Kottayam’ initiative. District panchayat president Joshy Philip inaugurated the project. P.K.

Vaisakh, chairman of the district panchayat standing committee on health and education, presided over the function. Vice-president Bindu Sebastian delivered the keynote address, while Deputy Director of Education Honey G. Alexander explained the project.

The initiative envisages distributing Malayalam and English newspapers to 52 government schools and setting aside 30 minutes in classrooms every day for newspaper reading. The district panchayat will also organise various competitions as part of a district-level conclave, with questions based on current affairs and topics covered in newspapers.