Volunteers set up library at local school for curious young minds

Volunteers from the NGO, Deepam, spruced up a room at Sri RKM Sarada Vidyalaya Matriculation Higher Secondary School in T Nagar to include bookshelves, stickers on the walls and nearly 220 children’s books.

“We work with nearly 10 schools across the city, but this is the first time we have set up a library at a school. As we try to promote English literacy, what we have noticed is that many children in Tamil-medium schools need an encouraging environment at home for reading. However, after an initial assessment, we found that this was not the case, and decided on setting up the library,” said Vignesh Pashupathi, school coordinator with Deepam.

This sentiment is backed by the school’s headmistress, A Jalaja. “These children come from difficult backgrounds. Their parents are also uneducated, so they enrol the child in Class 1 without opting for kindergarten levels. Thus, they lack the basic knowledge to read. Nutrition also plays a very important aspect in children’s learning, and many of the children are malnourished,” she said.

Bright, open and full of light, the library is a positive space that motivates the children to read, she said. Majorly provided by Tulika Books, the books have many pictures to break away from the text, which Jalaja and Vignesh say are key in helping young children learn.

Volunteers from the Deepam Foundation visit the school every Saturday and assist the children while they read, said Vignesh. “Having worked with the children for a while now, there is a definite change. They are able to recognise and read bigger words, when earlier they would stick to only two-or three-lettered words,” said Jalaja.