UP Schools to mandate Daily Newspaper Reading to Improve Vocabulary Building

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government has released guidelines ordering all secondary and basic primary schools across the state to include newspaper reading as a mandatory daily practice for school students. They have allowed students to have access to government district libraries and made it mandatory for them to issue at least one non-syllabus book every week. The order, released by Additional Chief Secretary Parth Sarathi Sen Sharma, aims to strengthen the reading culture among students and as a means to curb excessive screen time. 

An order issued by Additional Chief Secretary (Secondary and Basic Primary Education) Parth Sarathi Sen Sharma on December 23, 2025 mentions the plan, which includes making both Hindi and English newspapers available in school libraries. It mandates "at least 10 minutes must be dedicated daily during morning assembly for newspaper reading. During this time, students will read out key editorials and major news developments from national, international and sports news on a rotational basis." It has also introduced a ‘word of the day’ exercise, where five difficult words from newspapers will be selected and displayed on the notice board to improve vocabulary.

The order mentions every morning, during the school assembly, students will read out major news reports to improve their confidence, pronunciation, and general awareness. Officials believe this will also sharpen students' critical thinking and language skills, and help them identify fake news, while gaining knowledge to later appear for competitive exams.

The classes 9 to 12 students will write weekly editorial essays and participate in debates on social issues, while the classes 6 to 8 students will create scrapbooks using news clippings on topics like science and the environment.

Schools are also encouraged to publish their own newspapers and hold competitions like crosswords and Sudoku to improve logical thinking.