Students get certificates for learning French

Kolkata: The first batch of students who learnt French at New Town library were given certificates at an event.

The students were taught French by Debashis Sen, chairman, Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco). The admission to the class is free. The New Town library also proposes to introduce a course in German language and a counselling course for those pursuing higher studies. Sen gave away the certificates the students.

The second batch will start from January 4. Sen, who can speak and write French fluently taught the students. Learning French and German help the students who aspire to join higher studies in Europe and Canada.

It may be mentioned that Swami Vivekananda could speak French fluently and had delivered two lectures in French at the Paris Congress in 1900.

The state of the art digital library in New Town was inaugurated by Sujit Bose, minister of state for Fire and Emergency Services some days ago.

The library is housed at Nazrul Tirtha.It seeks to bring people back to the habit of reading, but is much more than a collection of books.

A modern contemporary styling will serve to restore the love for reading among the young and old, while RFID technology will make issue of books possible through smart kiosks and returns through a dropbox at any time.

Meanwhile, Kindle e-book readers can get reading access to the newest publications as books in the library can be accessed through a digital catalogue as well.

A bright children's section and compact seminar rooms bring colour and variety to the library, while a coffee corner by Ekante has been opened to facilitate the readers.

A tie-up with NDL (National Digital Library) will help expand the access horizon further.

There are more than 4,500 books now and the designed space is for 20,000 books.