© August 2017 | IJIRT | Volume 4 Issue 3 | ISSN: 2349-6002 IJIRT 144772 INTERNATIONAL JO URNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN TECHNOLOGY 181 Reading Habits of School Students: A Survey of Phudmuri Presbyterian Secondary School of Shillong Mrs.Jiarlimon Khongtim 1 , Prof. Moses M Naga 2 Department of Library and Information Science NEHU, Shillong-22, Meghalaya, India Abstract- This study investigates the reading habits of school students studying in Phudmuri Presbyterian Secondary School located at Mawlai in Shillong, India. A structured-interview schedule was used for data collection. Students of class vii, class viii and class ix of the selected School formed the population of the study. Out of the 304 total numbers of students from all the three classes, only 65(21%) of them were randomly selected to form the sample. The result of the study shows that the reading habit of the school students under study is very poor. Though majority of them said that they read newspapers, but they read only the Khasi local newspapers not the English newspapers. It was also found that majority of them are not reading magazines, story books or novels. Index Terms -Reading Habit, School Students, and Meghalaya Board of S chool Education (MBOS E). I. INTRODUCT ION Reading is an effort purposefully made by a reader to understand the meaning and information from a series of words in any format (written/printed or electronic format). It is the art of interpreting printed and written words, the most effective process of conscious learning (Panigrahi and Panda, 1996). “Reading is a man‟s bulwark against loneliness - his window on life, his unending delight and it brings yesterday and tomorrow into now” (Chettri and Rout, 2013). Reading is a beneficial and crucial process for everyone. It helps the reader to gain knowledge, to be well informed and stay updated. It can even shape up the personality of a person. The activity of reading is regarded as a „habit‟ when it is continuously carried out (Abeyrathna and Zainab, 2004). So, when reading becomes an involuntary action then it is called a „habit‟. But with the passage of time, this habit is drastically declining. Many studies conducted previously (Adetunji, 2007; Geske and Ozola, 2008; Yusof, 2010; Hussain and Munshi, 2011; Kutay, 2014; Haliru and et al., 2015) have proved that this habit is diminishing due to some factors affecting it. Further, from the literature it was also quite evident that the invention of information technologies was one of the factors which have radically altered the habit of reading, especially of the young people. Misusing of these technologies by the users was one of the main reasons. Most of the younger generations prefer to watch movies, listen to music or play video games either in their play station in computers, laptops or in mobile smart phones but not reading. So to say, the habit of reading is on the verge of extinction. Generally, the students read only for the sake of examinations (Abeyrathna and Zainab, 2004; Majid and Tan, 2007; Tella and Akande (2007)) or because their parents or teachers forced them to read but not with interest but in contradiction to the above discussion, now we are living in the „age of information‟ where everyone must be well informed and stay updated. In other words, we can say that for surviving and to get a good quality of life in this age one must be always well-versed and stay up to date, hence to achieve this target avid readers are well demanded. Even though reading had never been a habit for everybody, but now to be able to cope with the contemporary environment, this habit is imperative possibly for everyone in the society. For this reason to develop this habit in some one, it will be best to induce it right at a very young and tender age, say at school level. So, developing a good and smart reading habit right at school level should be the aim of every educator, library professionals, higher authorities and especially the academic institutions. Consequently, it can enhance the academic achievement of the students, it can help them to be able to focus and success on their future career, further it can help them to become a responsible and better citizen of the society. Thus, this valuable habit which is very essential for everyone should be imbibed at a very young age, so that it becomes a passion for a life time.