Givology - give to learn, learn to give

Reading material in rural Gujarat is scarce – there are no bookstores readily available in local villages and even in nearest cities, it can be difficult to find leisure reading books or picture books for students to enjoy. Even if these books were made available for purchase, most students’ families in this largely tribal farming community do not have the extra money to purchase books for their family members to read.

Up until recently, a very large broom closet at the Bajipura High School, located in the village community of Bajipura, has been used for keeping unused textbooks, discarded test papers and other such bric a brac in storage. The school has recently decided to convert this broom closet into a library which the 1700 students studying in Bajipura High School can enjoy. The space having been donated, we will purchase books or ship donated childrens’ books in Gujarati, Hindi and English, as well as provide training for the librarian so she can be helpful and proactive in facilitating and cultivating students’ love of reading!

We at the Nanubhai Education Foundation are working to advance education in rural India, particularly through enhancing students’ English, Technology and soft skills. Libraries at government schools in India tend to be dusty affairs with locked glass cabinets containing tomes much too difficult for our students to read. We are working to bring relevant, child-friendly literature to our students! Our first library program at our flagship school in Kadod, a nearby village, was a success with 300 regular student borrowers cultivated over one year and 350 books in our lending library. While the project began as a way to get English language books to our students to enhance their English skills, we recognize the importance of cultivating a love of reading in all of our students and believe that school libraries should have child-friendly literature of all languages that students speak and read, not only English.

Last year, our resident fellows watched a child cradle his first borrowed storybook to his chest. “My very very storybook!” He exclaimed in excitement (in English, for the Fellows benefit). We are excited to bring very very storybooks to all of the schools in which we work.

This project will make 500 books available to students and will provide a small stipend to the teacher who takes on the role as librarian in the high school for the added responsibility. Our resident Nanubhai Fellows (living in the community facilitating our programs) will provide the necessary training to the librarian and help promote the library in the school community to cultivate a regular base of student borrowers.

Cat Biddle, Executive Director of Nanubhai Education Foundation

Krishna Pandya, Nanubhai Fellow 2009-10

Meghan Cunningham, Nanubhai Fellow 2009-10

Bhupatbhai Patel, Principal, Bajipura High School