Let’s be real—when was the last time you saw a kid flipping through a book instead of scrolling on a screen? Gen Alpha (aka today’s schoolkids) were practically born with an iPad in one hand and YouTube in the other. Reading? Spelling? Writing without autocorrect? That’s becoming a lost art.
But hold up—before we go full boomer mode and start ranting about “kids these days,” let’s talk solutions. What if we could turn the same excitement they have for screens into a love for words?
The Fix: Making Reading Cool Again
The ‘Spelling Bee 2.0’ Revolution
Imagine a spelling competition, but make it fast-paced, competitive, and fun. Instead of dull dictation, students go head-to-head, racing to spell words as they’re called out. Get it right? You move up. Mess up? You learn and come back stronger. A little pressure, a little adrenaline, and boom—spelling skills unlocked.
Reading Challenges That Hit Different
Let’s swap robotic, boring reading exercises with dramatic read-aloud battles. Picture this: a poetry slam where kids bring poems to life, or a speed-reading contest with tongue twisters and surprises. The goal? Make reading cool again. No monotone voices, no half-hearted mumbles—just pure expression.
Grammar Games, But Make It a Battle
Grammar is lowkey the backbone of everything we write, but let’s be honest, no one wants to sit through dry grammar lessons. Enter The Grammar Gauntlet—a team-based quiz where correct answers mean rewards and wrong ones mean hilarious penalties (think funny dares, not extra homework). Suddenly, sentence structures and tenses don’t seem so bad.
What Parents Can Do (Besides Blaming Phones)
Before you snatch away the tablet, let’s talk about smart parenting hacks that actually work:
Make books visible – Kids grab what they see. Keep books on tables, in the car, even in the bathroom (yep, it works).
Read out loud—dramatically – Whether it’s bedtime stories or random road signs, reading with expression makes words exciting.
Set screen-time swaps – No need to ban screens, just balance them. 30 minutes of YouTube? Cool, but let’s do 15 minutes of reading first.
Lead by example – If they never see you reading, why would they? Pick up a book, and they might just follow.
So, Can Gen Alpha Be Saved?
The truth? These kids are smart, creative, and full of potential. They just need the right push to swap passive scrolling for active learning. If we start now—making reading, spelling, and grammar engaging instead of exhausting—we might just turn iPad kids into the next generation of book lovers.
And who knows? Maybe one day, they’ll thank us for it.

— Nirmit Srivastava (Literary minister- School council 2024-25)
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