[Sylvia Koyu]
On 11 November, at the start of the Children’s Day Sports Week at the government secondary school (GSS) in Deed, in Lower Subansiri district, the dusty, empty shelves of the school finally came to life.
During an inspection of the school, it came to my notice that the most important school in the circle, established as early as in 1960, did not have a library since its inception. The school was lucky enough to have a library built by an NGO in 2017, but it had no books to boast of and was more or less defunct, despite having a good, usable library room. I saw this as an opportunity to mobilise the outreach.
I have, as an administrator, channelled the dynamism of the latest batch of 2022 and a ‘Donate a Book’ drive took shape.
The APCS batch of 2022 and senior officers of the district helped immensely by contributing books, as well as by encouraging and giving their moral support to my donation drive.
I have donated around 250 books. Although donations have amounted to about Rs 500, I could not donate all of them on Friday due to logistic issues.
“A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counsellor, a multitude of counsellors,” said Charles Baudelaire. I believe that books are the perfect gateway to the best minds in the world. They can take you on a tour around the farthest corners of the world, even if you are tucked away in a remote little village of Arunachal Pradesh called Deed.
I want to help inculcate the habit of reading among the students of Deed, reintroduce the fun way of learning, broaden their horizon of thought, and get them accustomed to the simple joy of reading.
The drive has received a huge variety of books, from Shakespeare and Dickens to the works of the biggest names of Arunachal literature, such as Mamang Dai, to fun comics, encyclopaedia, books on Earth and space, flora and fauna, and educational books about young growing adults, to name a few. The students here are lucky to have so many officers and exemplary citizens helping them out. We will see to it that a class for library is worked out in the curriculum no less than twice a week.
Expansion of the shelves to accommodate more books, and periodic book reading sessions in the school, roping in interested officials from the district, are also in the pipeline. The students here will benefit tremendously from the collective efforts of the society.
I would like to extend heartfelt thanks to every donor who contributed – officials, family members and friends – but mostly the unemployed students and aspirants who have gone out of their way by supporting the cause, despite struggling themselves.
I would also like to appeal to the masses to contribute more good books, preferably non-academic, new or old, for the age group of 3 to 16 years, since I plan on continuing this donation drive until the shelves in the library are completely full.
“Reading is important. If you know how to read, then the whole world opens up to you.” – Barack Obama. (Sylvia Koyu is an APCS 2022 batch officer and is presently serving as Circle Officer, Deed, Lower Subansiri district.)
