Pooja Kulkarni, Tamil Nadu state project director for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) said that the initiative was launched in an attempt to provide incentive to teachers and students who put in their effort and skills. 

“Initially, this will be conducted at the district level and the best schools from the district will compete at the state level. We will specify what students should read, depending on the class we will ask them to read passage from books, stories and articles in newspapers,” Kulkarni said. 

Special teams will be formed at the panchayat union level and supervisors will brief them about the testing methodology. The teams will test student’s reading skills, including their reading ability with grammar and punctuation. The SSA directorate has advised teams to make students read newspaper articles with the exception of politics and cinema. Students will be judged on their ability to read passages and understand their meaning. 

“SSA will provide grants to the winning government school, with which they can either buy learning materials or develop their infrastructure,” Kulkarni summed up.