A fitting tribute to the Humble President A P J Abdul Kalam. Maharashtra’s Education Minister Vinod Tawde had made the announcement that  October 15, APJ Abdul Kalam’s birth anniversary, will be celebrated as “Vaachan Prerna Diwas” or Reading Day in all schools of Maharashtra. The announcement has been made by Tawde soon after Kalam’s death on July 27.

Students in the city and surrounding areas can leave their school bags at home next Thursday when schools across the state will observe Vaachan Prerna Diwas as per the government order.

Kalam’s birthday on October 15 will be no-schoolbag day:

In a government resolution issued on Wednesday, the state asked all students from Class III to VIII to read non-academic books in school, and instructed schools to host book exhibitions, implement gift-a-book programmes, introduce students to well-known authors from around the world, and hold discussions on books.  The government has said that almost Rs 6 lakh is available for the programme.

“Kalam’s writings are an inspiration to students and youth. These activities will help students develop an interest for reading, which is sorely lacking. So we created the ‘school without bags’ plan for that day,” said B B Chavan, deputy director, Mumbai.

“There should be no kind of pressures in class this day and a positive environment should be created. This way, students can read what they like and have fun doing it. Only then will the programme be a success,” said the circular issued by Chavan.

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, widely loved and admired by people of all age groups, is very popular with children. No other Indian president has possibly spent as much time interacting with children and youngsters as Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. He truly believed that the future of India and the future of the world depended on encouraging children to dream. He cared for children’s education across the world. A fitting tribute to the Humble President Kalam and hope all other State government will follow suit and declare ‘No Schoolbag Day’ on his birthday.