Page 89 - EW-January-2026

for her students to develop the reading habit,” says Maya in Delhi.
Menon, an alumna of Delhi and Leicester (UK) universities There is no dearth of evidence from cognitive science,
and founder-director of The Teacher Foundation, Banga- psychology and education research to prove that sustained
lore (estd.2002), which has trained over 100,000 teachers reading — particularly of biographies, fiction and history
countrywide. — enhances teachers’ general knowledge, creativity, logical
A frequently advanced reason for government school thinking, analytical intelligence and empathy. To write his
teachers being poorly read — especially in rural India — bestseller Change Your Habits, Change Your Life (2016),
is the conspicuous lack of school and public libraries. Ac- US-based financial planner Tom Corley conducted a five-
cording to the Annual Status of Education Report 2024 year study in which he interviewed 177 millionaires about
published by the Pratham Education Foundation, 17.5 per- their daily habits. The great majority (88 percent) said they
cent of rural schools don’t provide any library facilities. Yet set aside at least 30 minutes per day to read biographies,
while easy accessibility to reading material may be a prob- history and self-help books.
lem for government school teachers, in private schools af- In a 2017 interview with The New York Times, former US
filiated with the pan-India CBSE/CISCE and international President Barack Obama said he reads extensively because
boards Cambridge International (UK) and International books help him “slow down, get perspective, and under-
Baccalaureate (Geneva), managements have made gener- stand the complexity of the world”. Every December, he
ous investments in state-of-the-art libraries. But even their releases his annual reading list, which is widely anticipated
teachers don’t exhibit much enthusiasm for reading. “We and followed (see box p.94).
have a vast school library with over 30,000 print volumes Therefore, it’s never too late for teachers to start reading.
and another 10,000 digital/e-books. But hardly any of our In the first issue of 2026, EducationWorld presents a read-
over 100 teachers borrow non-subject and non-prescribed ing list for teachers and educators, specially recommended
books for reading. Now with ChatGPT, teachers visiting and curated by a select jury of knowledgeable education-
the library even to use subject reference books has become ists, teacher trainers and school principals from across the
rare,” says the librarian of a well-reputed private school country.

JANUARY 2026 EDUCATIONWORLD 89