The Hindu : Front Page : Spreading love for books among poor children

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 12, 2006
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Spreading love for books among poor children

Anasuya Menon

JOIN THE CLUB! The active mobile library in Coimbatore. — Photo: K. Ananthan

COIMBATORE: Rohini is a Class VIII student of the Panchayat Union Middle School at Thudiyalur here. Her parents work at a construction site. She represents hundreds of other children in the rural peripheries of the city who have no access even to quality education, let alone entertainment.

But Rohini is an active member of a `reading movement,' which is steadily gathering momentum on the outskirts of the city.

Started by a group of young men, this movement aims to bring the joys of reading to children in villages whose parents cannot afford to buy books for them. Nearly 2,000 children from around 40 villages in Coimbatore are part of the movement.

"Very few children studying in the rural pockets of the city have opportunities of developing their reading habits, as most school libraries are defunct. Even if there are libraries, children are not motivated enough to read anything outside their syllabus," says V. Dhandapani, Managing Trustee of `Adaiyalam', the group that has initiated this movement. "It was started with the aim of spreading a love for books," he adds.

Most of the books are sourced from Aid India, a non-Government organisation based in Chennai.

The club members meet on holidays, and the children exchange books and discuss the last book each one has read. One in the group will also keep a formal record of the book exchange. These mobile libraries also have volunteers from Adaiyalam who help them out with difficult books. Children keep the books with themselves and after reading, pass them on to the others in the group.

Most of the children come from similar backgrounds — a majority of them belonging to economically backward families. Also, even though they go to schools, many do not know how to read and write. In a random survey that was carried out by the volunteers of Adaiyalam at 30 villages in Coimbatore, 50 per cent of the children going to schools did not know how to read or write. Another aim of the reading club is to educate the children and encourage them to learn.

The mobile libraries are also planning to bring out a 12-page magazine titled `Thumbi' twice a month. They also plan to have a resource library. Those who wish to donate books to the library can contact Mr. Dhandapani at 98423 51324.

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