Correspondent
SEPPA, 3 Aug: The children of the remote Pakoti village in East Kameng celebrated freedom from ignorance 14 days before the nation celebrates its Independence Day on 15 August, when the village got its first library on Monday.
The library, which boasts 545 books, including fiction and non-fiction, was inaugurated by East Kameng deputy commissioner Pravimal Abhishek Polumatla at the government secondary school, Pakoti, located around 8 kilometers from Seppa town. The school got a well-furnished children’s playroom as well.
DC Polutmala congratulated the villagers of Pakoti for the library and the playroom and said the new asset is a perfect outcome of ‘Jan Bhagidari’. He urged the locals of other parts of the district to emulate similar initiatives for the overall development of the education scenario.
The villagers, PRI leaders, school administration, and students all praised the circle officer Pooza Sonam for the facelift.
The government secondary school Pakoti established in 1979 as a primary school, upgraded to middle school in 1986 and then to secondary school in 2008, was without a school library like any other government school in the district, while a playroom is still an alien concept.
Sonam said the idea of the library and playroom came to her after she stopped by a community library run by an NGO, Garung Thuk, during her visit to Shergaon last year.
“When the DC provided funds from his untied fund to each circle officer and asked us to do something in our own jurisdiction, in my mind, I had only library and playroom for the rural kids,” Sonam said.
After exhausting the fund to renovate the decade-old school building, she mobilized for crowd funding. To her surprise, many, including alumni and NGO representatives, readily came forward to support the noble cause with furniture, books and other equipment.
She roped in the service of well-known local artist Jacky Bodo who beautified both the rooms, and now it can be used as a conference hall for training and seminars.
Sonam says nothing can bring more peace than seeing the 106 students of the school enhance their reading habits and gain knowledge in the library.
Class X student Adang Tallang, who never thought a well-furnished library and playroom would come up at her school, was all praise for the ‘CO Madam’ for the initiative, while her batch mate Nanung Sangdo hoped the circle officer also solve the water scarcity at the earliest.
