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Take home library in a box: An idea that must move |
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There are a lot of people who may have studied in the village schools and reached a better station in life. If each one of them contributes one library or one tablet, the learning environment can really be transformed. How many primary schools have a library, which is easily accessible to the children? Even the private schools may ration the number of books to one or two that are issued to students per week. A government primary school in Kalol has created a new model of a ‘take home library’ for children.
Pritiben and Yogeshbhai conceived this idea and undertook a campaign called “Books Give Me Wings”. They found donors, like IFFCO and some other individuals for funding. The initiative had four parts:
1. Vanchan Parab: Children of classes 3 to 5 can sit around a banyan tree and read books relevant to their age.
2. Samaydan Vanchan Project: A parent, Alpa Kothari, agreed to donate two hours every day for reading to children and helping them develop reading abilities.
3. Khushi Reading Garden: A corner of the school was converted into an “open library.” The walls were painted, a hexagonal raised platform built and four kota-stone benches put up. Plastic chairs and books were bought through the money collected from public donations.
4. “My little library, at my home”: Fifty tin boxes were bought and a set of 20 to 25 books (of interest to children, like children’s stories, tales of expeditions, biographies) was placed. The set also contains books that are of interest to the elders at home. Children were given a library to take home for a month. Testing of the reading abilities of the children was done by asking the children to read during school hours.
Children get opportunity to read at least 120 books in a year and their families too can access the library. When the king of Gondal tried to popularize libraries 100 years ago he would not have imagined that there will be a school in 2013 which will provide take home library to every child. It is possible that such an educational innovation takes many more decades before every school in 6.5 lakh villages of the country will have similar take home library for every student. A generation which will grow reading books and reflecting on ideas will be a generation of thinkers, doers and imbued with the spirit of sharing.
We hope at least some of the readers would take this step of donating at least one small box with 15 books to any school they want. There is no better gift.
Priti Rupchand Gandhi and Yogesh Jagadishchandra Acharya, Kalol Primary School No. 9, Near Ice Factory, Kalol, Block: Kalol, District: Gandhinagar (kalolprimaryschoolno9@gmail.com)
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee 24(3) 3, 2013 |
