Dharmendra Pradhan launched a 100-day reading campaign ‘Padhe Bharat’

Why in news?

• Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched a 100-day reading campaign ‘Padhe Bharat’ recently.

About ‘Padhe Bharat’

• The launch of the 100 Days Reading Campaign is in alignment with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 which lays emphasis on the promotion of joyful reading culture for children by ensuring the availability of age-appropriate reading books for children in local/mother tongue/regional/tribal language.
• The Minister while launching the campaign has underlined the importance of reading that children need to develop to ensure continuous and lifelong learning. He also reinforced that the habit of reading, if inculcated at an early age, helps in brain development and enhances imagination and provide a conducive learning environment for children.
• Padhe Bharat campaign will focus on children studying in Balvatika to Grade 8. The reading campaign will be organized for 100 days (14 weeks) starting from January 1, 2022, to April 10, 2022. The reading campaign aims to have the participation of all stakeholders at the national and state level including children, teachers, parents, community, educational administrators etc. One activity per week per group has been designed with the focus on making reading enjoyable and build a lifelong association with the joy of reading. This campaign has also been aligned with the vision and goals of the foundational Literacy and Numeracy mission.
• The 100 days reading campaign will also focus on Indian languages including mother tongue/local/regional languages.
• Hence, 100 days Reading Campaign is envisaged to support and encourage students, along with their schools, teachers, parents, and communities, in every possible way and encourage children to read for a joyful learning experience.