IS READING NEWSPAPERS DAILY STILL A GOOD HABIT?

Reading newspapers is still recommended in many schools across the world for students to increase their reading and comprehension skills. It is also suggested as a method to increase current affairs knowledge, stay informed about the world and the country and form the foundation for new ideas to form. However, what was once considered all good has become questionable now. The top schools in Sonepat direct their students to this habit with strategic caution. The struggle of the news industry has compelled it to take steps that are often unethical and the daily consumption of such information is doing more harm to the children than the intended good.

Not all news on the papers are meant for children today

Digital media has trumped the popularity of print media. This caused the latter to evolve in a way that became detrimental for readers. Two decades into the 21^st-century when social media has taken over as the main source of news providers,digital media has also followed a similar path as print to keep their heads above the water. Today, most news is directed to insight public fear and polarity. Most papers take a side and bash the opposite, giving up their once-famed feature of being able to stay neutral. Exposing children to such biases naturally modifies their mindset towards the world and society as a whole and negatively affects their well-being.

Plus, along with social media, both digital and print media has become susceptible to fake news. In their scuffle to print exciting and engaging news, even the respected news channels across the world pick up misinformation and print without verification. When the fees of boarding school in India is trying its best to educate the students against the menace of fake news, a daily intake of such information from a presumed-trusted source breaks the spine of all the school's hard work.

Lastly, newspapers today are glorying the overhyped lifestyles. Instead of promoting free thought, most papers are painting only one side of the pretty pictures that are driving students towards meaningless engagements and pastimes. In all, newspapers have evolved beyond the level of being student-friendly where information was once presented as it is without the infusion of the media house's agenda. Students do not need opinions to be enforced upon them. They need to read the facts and form their own ideas.

But not all newspapers have lost their integrities

Fortunately, there are still a handful of newspapers and media houses around who are functioning in exactly the way they should be. They are still bringing well-researched hard facts to their readers without superimposing any side's agenda on the news. These are the papers that students should spend their time with daily and these are the papers that students should pick up to improve their reading and comprehension skills. the best boarding school in India has subscriptions for these in its libraries. And students are repeatedly given examples of reports from these newspapers to direct them towards these actually trusted resources that publish ethically for the readers.

Magazines and books are other alte atives

Along with newspapers, today's students must have the habit of reading magazines and books. These also serve the same reading and comprehension benefits. What books do, as opposed to newspapers, is that they do not bombard the students with a bunch of new information daily and they comprehend the matter at hand better and the standard news reading children. 21^st-century students require knowledge depth. News is a great way to catch up but never build a knowledge trove. When complemented closely by great books and magazines, newspapers can serve the very purpose that it is supposed to in the first place.

The benefits of reading newspapers are real

But caution is necessary at all levels. Reading daily, newspapers or books, increases vocabulary. It keeps the students informed and leads to better discussions. Their education becomes more application-oriented. The routine is way better than mindlessly spending time in front of the television. But reading news that incites fear, hatred, polarity, bias, adulterated opinion or fake perception of reality is a direct threat to the students' well-being and this is where today's schools must step in to ensure that reading the news daily remains a good habit for the children. When the industry has evolved, the students' education must evolve too so that critical thinking takes precedence over all.

Swa prastha Public School, thus, does not blindly advise its students to read newspapers daily. Neither are they encouraged to collect all their information (and believe them) from the news only.