The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has sent out new reading list for students of classes V to XII, prepared in consultation with the Association of Writers and Illustrators for Children (AWIC), in order to inculcate the habit of reading among school children. The list for the first time includes works by Indian authors. Earlier, the CBSE had asked schools to introduce reading projects and had provided a list of books for students of classes V to XII, apart from their textbooks. The list included the Harry Potter series for classes VII and VIII, and Moby Dick for classes IX and X. The new list sent for the schools by CBSE includes books by Indian authors in genres such as historical fiction, mystery, adventure, real-life stories, environment, adventure, sports, science fiction and plays. This reading project is a part of the CCE scheme and can be used for the formative assessments (FA1, FA2, FA3 and FA4). The CBSE gives the schools various modes of assessment. The new list also interestingly includes books by Nilima Sinha, wife of former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, the president of the AWIC. Her books include- Five Mystery stories for classes VII and VIII. Other authors include Manorana, Jafa, Surekha Panandiker, Deepak Dalal nd Ira Saxena. The schools have been given the freedom to prepare book lists, including works in regional languages. The CBSE has also planned to send out a list of books written in Hindi. Students have also been encouraged to read books, written by Satyajit Ray, R K Narayan, Sudha Murthy, Ismat Chughtai and APJ Abdul Kalam.
