Call to broadbase Newspaper In Education concept

By our staff reporter

MADURAI, MARCH 3. The concept of Newspaper In Education (NIE), instead of confining to urban elite, should be broad-based, to reach out to the students of rural areas.

Participating in the Inter-active programme on the Newspaper In Education (NIE), organised by The Hindu, here today, the principals and teachers of various schools in and around Madurai, accepted that NIE should evolve into a multi-dimensional perception of learning, a lively and vibrant exercise. ``The child has the right to know and the right to express. And the teachers should play the role of Newspaper in classroom - both educating and entertaining,'' said Ms.Devika, Co-ordinator, NIE, Chennai. She further added that the young students should be made aware of the importance of the rich cultural heritage of their home towns.

Madurai, she added, as an ancient city has a rich heritage. ``Make the students feel proud about it. Ask them to react to the acts of cultural vandalism, such as the one that happens in Afganistan. We have to be an actor in the class room to make it lively and vibrant.'' Interesting news items could be culled out from newspapers and displayed in the Notice-boards.

The participants came out with various suggestions for an effective execution of NIE and better co-ordination between the teachers and the organisers. Workshops on story telling, theatre performance and personality development for impressive communication should be organised. Teachers, primarily, should be made aware of the importance of NIE. `Mock youth parliaments' should be promoted in schools for which the guidance from newspapers was an inherent need, they felt.

They also said politics was occupying the centre-stage in newspapers while important issues such as environment, were relegated to back pages. They also wanted an exclusive page to be devoted for teachers to accommodate their contributions. The children, they said, should be encouraged to review books. `Young World' Clubs should be formed. They felt that the school managements must come forward to allocate separate time for newspaper reading. Newspapers should come forward to acknowledge the performances of young achievers in various fields, more generously.

Those, who put forward their suggestions, included Ms.Kausalya Srinivasan, principal of Akshra Matriculation Higher secondary School, Nagamalai Pudukottai, Ms.Guhakumari, Vice- principal, TVSLMHSS, Madurai, Mr.Natana Gurunathan, Headmaster, M.M.HSS, Tirunagar and Ms.M.Dean, Principal, Sethurajan Padma MHSS, Madurai. As many as 45 representatives from 33 schools participated.

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