Influence of E-Resources on the Reading Ability of School Children: A Case Study

The purpose of the study is to examine the influence of reading ability of school children of higher schools in Murshidabad district, West Bengal. Survey method has been adopted in this study. The population of this study consists of school children of higher secondary Schools in Murshidabad district of West Bengal. As the population is large, in terms of cost, money and effort involved, the investigator at the first stage selected 7 schools by simple random method. There are 580 students studying XI class in these schools. Again the investigator selected 182 students out of 580 by simple random method. The data has been gathered from 182 students using questionnaire method. The data has been analysed keeping in view the objectives using descriptive statistical techniques. Most of the students (86.81%) replied that they read books every day. A majority of the students (58.79%) replied that they read newspapers every day A majority of the students (68.68%) did not do online chatting with friends. A majority of them (65.93%) replied that television, internet facilities, cell phone, and other electronic media in their school and home did not interfere with their reading hours. An average each student is spending 2 hours 12minutes and 11 seconds on reading textbooks every day. Hence the students should be encouraged by the parents, teachers and librarians to spend more time on study related activities. The government should establish functional libraries which are adequately created for and well furnished with current biographic or story book materials which will in turn stimulate to increase the reading ability of the students.