Narayanganj School Makes Extracurricular Reading Mandatory to Foster Academic Excellence and Student Literacy
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NARAYANGANJ, Bangladesh — Bidyaniketan High School, located in the Bhuiyarbag area of Deobhog in Narayanganj, has transformed the act of reading into a foundational pillar of its academic curriculum. By integrating extracurricular reading into its formal assessment structure, the school is successfully fostering a culture of literacy among its 1,800 students.
The school mandates that students read beyond their standard textbooks, requiring them to complete at least four books annually. To ensure compliance and engagement, students must sit for a 50-mark examination based on these external readings. Failure to pass this specific assessment results in a failure for the entire academic year, a policy that has been in place for nearly two decades.
Since its inception in 2007, the school has meticulously curated a library collection that has grown to approximately 17,000 volumes. The facility, which is climate-controlled and monitored by closed-circuit television, features a diverse range of genres including literature, science, history, biographies, and theology. Notable sections include a 1,400-volume collection dedicated to the history of the Liberation War of Bangladesh and comprehensive shelves featuring works by literary icons such as Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, and Humayun Ahmed.
“We want students to hold books and cultivate a friendship with reading,” said Headmaster Uttam Kumar. “By incorporating reading into the examination process, we ensure it becomes a regular habit rather than just an occasional activity.”
The initiative appears to be yielding results. According to Assistant Librarian Md. Raisul Islam Khan, students frequently borrow books to take home, with daily issuance rates reaching 25 to 30 volumes. Annually, the library circulates between 10,000 and 12,000 books to the student body. Students, such as eighth-grader Fatematuz Zohra, report that while they initially aimed to meet the four-book requirement, many now voluntarily read 10 to 12 books per year due to newfound interest.
School management committee member Abdus Salam emphasized that the program is designed to instill a lifelong passion for reading from a young age. This sentiment is echoed by local cultural figures like Rafiur Rabbi, who noted that the initiative provides students with a broader intellectual horizon, helping them develop into more thoughtful and humanitarian individuals in an era often dominated by social media and mobile technology.
Staffed by 62 teachers and 10 support personnel, the school allocates specific periods throughout the 52-week academic calendar for students of each grade level to utilize the library. Through this structured approach, Bidyaniketan High School continues to serve as an unconventional model for academic success, prioritizing the development of informed, critical thinkers over mere rote memorization.
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