The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Giving a boost to reading habit, through mobile library

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Sunday, Jan 06, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Giving a boost to reading habit, through mobile library

“When we work for social change, we have to offer solutions and sustainable models, not just criticise”

— Photo: R. Shivaji Rao

A. Narayanan

Students of 10 Corporation schools in north Chennai await their turn once every week for a bonanza of books, courtesy a mobile library project started a couple of months ago. The van packed with story books, educational material and general knowledge compact discs (CDs) has become so popular that other Corporation schools want the library to visit them too. A. Narayanan, the man behind the innovative project, talks to Kannal Achuthan.

Every school should have good libraries, laboratories and lavatories. These key facilities are the “magic wands” that revolutionise school education, says A. Narayanan, mentor of the Innovative Network for School Evolution (INFORSE), a Chennai-based advocacy group.

Rather than just talk about improvement, Mr. Narayanan and a small team of his friends and relatives got together to start a mobile library project for Corporation schools last October.

“The number of children and teenagers from backward and deprived communities who read books as a hobby is very insignificant,” he says.

Mr. Narayanan, who runs a manufacturing firm for scientific instruments, did not want to stock up books in schools where they might simply sit in cupboards. “We wanted to have a team which would closely interact with children and develop a model that could be standardised and replicated elsewhere. Then it struck us that we could convert a bus into a library,” he said. After some thought, INFORSE decided to use a van rather than a bus so as to navigate narrow lanes in north Chennai.

The Chennai Corporation offered full support, and the project has made quite an impact, says Mr. Narayanan. After each reading session, children are encouraged to narrate what they read to their friends. Teachers say students are able to understand their lessons better by watching educational CDs played on a projector carried in the van.

Mr. Narayanan believes every individual can contribute to help society by volunteering skills and time for small projects. “When we work for social change, we do need to criticise and advocate issues. But, we have to offer solutions and sustainable models rather than merely criticising,” he says.

INFORSE wants to extend its project to more Corporation schools. It is also planning to develop model children’s toilets and urinals that are easy to use and maintain.

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