Students’ reading proficiency ups across Khammam govt schools

Khammam: In a welcome development, the first phase of ‘Every Child Reads’ (ECR) programme implemented across Khammam government schools in November-December 2025 has revealed encouraging results in improving students’ reading abilities.

In light of the growth, District Collector Anudeep Durishetty, on Monday. urged teachers to focus intensively on the implementation of the programme and set a target of ensuring that 75 per cent of students achieve sentence-level reading proficiency within the next month. Sharing progress statistics, the Collector said that at the beginning of the programme, only 11 per cent of students were able to read sentences, which increased to 38 per cent by December 28. He described the initiative as one that equips children with lifelong learning skills.

Reviewing the second phase of the ECR programme through a video conference from the Collectorate camp office with mandal education officers, headmasters and school staff, the Collector noted that the programme witnessed a brief interruption due to panchayat elections and called upon teachers to take the initiative forward with renewed enthusiasm in the New Year.

Based on feedback received from teachers during the first month, two types of study materials have been prepared — one aimed at strengthening basic reading skills among academically weaker students, and another designed with varied vocabulary for students showing better progress.

The Collector said the second phase of the ECR programme would be implemented over a period of 45 days and expressed confidence that the focused efforts would significantly enhance students’ reading skills.

Under the second phase, students who can read words should be guided to read sentences, while those who can read letters should be enabled to progress to word reading, he said. He reiterated the goal of achieving sentence-level reading skills among 75 per cent of students within a month. He also expressed hope that Khammam district would record notable improvement in the upcoming Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) survey scheduled for February.

Stressing the importance of regular assessment, he said that evaluations under the ECR programme must be conducted compulsorily every Wednesday. He pointed out that Khammam Rural, Sathupalli, Chinthakani and Bonakal mandals were already showing positive outcomes. Every student, he said, should be capable of reading short sentences.

The Collector directed schools to continue the ECR programme daily and allocate at least one hour exclusively for reading activities. He explained that the programme was designed around basic English phonetics to help students understand sounds rather than rely on rote memorisation of words.