ITANAGAR, 21 Apr: Lohit youth libraries and the reading movement in Arunachal Pradesh won new admirers and friends at IIT Gandhinagar and IIT Bombay as the library coordinator S. Mundayoor went on a five-week series of talks and lec-dems at the invitation of the two IITs from 18 March to 19 April.
The coordinator’s one month scholar-in-residence programme at IIT Gandhinagar was facilitated by prof. Ambika Aiyadurai, associate professor at the department of HSS along with Dr. TS Kumbar, chief librarian, IITGN, while his three-day visit to IIT Bombay was coordinated by prof. Parag Bhargava, professor at department of Metallurgical Engineering & Material Science.
During his stay at IIT Gandhinagar, Mundayoor gave three public talks and three ‘joy of reading’ sessions for the young readers.
A public talk “Let’s spread the Joy of Reading” organised by the chief librarian, IITGN Central Library saw active interactions by several faculty and parents, while the visiting CBSE principals actively participated in the talk and discussion session on “Principals & the Reading habits of their school students.”
The public talk “Creative Writing for script-less minor languages” organised by prof. Jooyoung Kim for IIT students and faculty brought enthusiastic participation, with listeners showing keen interest in the reading challenges faced by speakers of minor languages.
The ‘Joy of Reading’ sessions for young readers was conducted by the coordinator along with senior library volunteer Nishanlu Kri, an MA student in Gandhinagar.
While two sessions were held in the IITGN Central Library, the third one facilitated by NYAASA, IITGN was held in the Govt Middle School, Basan village near Gandhinagar.
Giving her impressions of the coordinator’s programmes in IITGN prof. Ambika Aiyadurai said, “Uncle Moosa’s second visit to IITGN, as his previous visit, brought in new energy and enthusiasms among faculty and students. He organised several activities on campus, along with senior library volunteer Nishanlu Kri, an MA student in Gandhinagar. He gave public lectures on education sharing his experience of organizing reading campaigns in remote tribal areas of Arunachal. Most importantly, he left a lasting impression on us about our connections with books and reading.”
The three days visit to IIT Bombay consisted of a public talk and interactions with several faculty interested in reading and challenges of youth as well as visits to various departments and projects working on ‘Technology for public welfare.’
This included the Centre BETIC (Bio-medical Engg & Technology Innovation Centre), which has produced several highly useful, indigenous, low cost medical devices highly useful for rural and tribal areas, like Arunachal. BETIC has offered to extend their professional expertise for the medical fraternity of Arunachal. The coordinator also visited the C-TARA (The Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas) that works on public health, and rural development challenges & the Dept of Aerospace Engineering.
The public talk by Mundayoor at IIT Bombay “Promoting Joyful Education & Reading in Arunachal – Stories (reflections) from a social Movement” was organised by the department of Met Engg & Material Science and saw the participation of several faculty and scholars and guests.
Speaking on the occasion, prof. Parag Bhargava said, “It was inspirational to hear from Uncle Moosa about the library movement and how it has touched lives of many children and youth in towns and villages of Arunachal. It was heartening to note that the library movement has found support from various segments of the society including government officials. Also, the impact it has created is visible in several beneficiaries of the library movement now volunteering to help sustain and grow the library movement.”
Thanking his hosts at both IITs, Mundayoor expressed his joy in the successful visits and conveyed the heartfelt gratitude of the volunteers and mentors of the Library Network to the director and faculty of both institutions for providing valuable learning experiences to library activists from remote Arunachal.
