SHILLONG: In a novel initiative to inculcate reading habits among students, a mobile library will travel to various schools in East Khasi Hills thanks to the initiative of the State Education Mission Authority (SEMA).
Launched here on Tuesday, SEMA has tied up with Kali Kit Kot (Mobile Library) formed a year ago by a group of young people to reach out to the students in their schools.
Kali Kit Kot is the pioneer in creating awareness on reading habits among the rural folks.
The pilot mobile library initiative launched at the Pynthorumkhrah Golflink Govt. LP School under Mylliem Block on Tuesday will cover all the eight blocks in East Khasi Hills District.
Secretary Education and State Project Director, SEMA (SSA), FR Kharkongor, said that the objective is to build a culture of reading among children by providing easy access to reading resources with appropriate reading materials and also allotting a dedicated time to read.
“The programme will not only lend books to children, but will also donate books to the schools and introduce various reading activities in schools. To activate reading in schools, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) support was obtained from Meghalaya Cooperative Apex Bank Ltd., the official said.
As per RTE 2009, every school is expected to have a school library and as per the Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat campaign, Classes I & II are expected to have reading corners with story books and supplementary readers available for independent reading.
“In Meghalaya, out of 1305 elementary schools, only 969 elementary schools have libraries,” he said.
The official deplored that there has been very little budgetary support for setting up of libraries and reading corners in schools.
The mobile library will move from school to school with its collection of various books such as children encyclopedia, short stories, educational books, vocational training books and children’s foundational books with a view to inspire reading among the young children.
The mobile library would also move with a projector and laptop for screening children’s films, short educational films and documentaries, which are informative and knowledge building.
After the formal launch, the children were seen to be enthusiastically browsing and animatedly reading the books and appeared stimulated and curious with the collection of books. Of particular interest was the graphic novel U Sier Lapalang, a favourite Khasi folktale narrating the well known story through a series of colourful and graphic illustrations.
The mobile library will next travel to other blocks of the district in an effort to reach out to more students in the rural areas, Kharkongor said
