Professor’s Tamil podcast inspires students to start their broadcast
Dr T Jaisakthivel, a faculty member of the Department of Journalism and Communication, University of Madras, loves to read short stories. While interacting with his students, the professor realised that literature reading among students is on the declining stage. To encourage the students to take up reading Tamil literature, he started a podcast called Tamil Sirukathaikal.
“Students, these days, read mainly their study materials. Not many take interest in reading Tamil short stories or novels. We have many celebrated writers like R Chudamani, Na Muthuswamy,
Ambai, Ashokamithran, Kanthasamy. But students haven’t heard of them. To introduce my students into the world of Tamil literature, I started the podcast,” says Dr T Jaisakthivel.
He was surprised to see the response to his podcast Tamil Sirukathaikal. “After listening to my podcast, students told me that they never knew Tamil had such progressive writers. They took interest in learning more about the authors and started reading their works. What made me happier is that all the students in the journalism department started their podcasts discussing various topics. Some talk about novels, reading, etc,” he shares.
The professor wants to make sure that there are more takers for Tamil literature among the current generation. “If we don’t promote and popularise Tamil novels, poetry and short stories, we will not be having any new writers. We have to support the language,” he concludes
After listening to my podcast, students told me that they never knew Tamil had such progressive writers
– Dr T Jaisakthivel,
Faculty member, Department of Journalism & Communication, University of Madras