During Covid, Adhyayan Foundation realised that schools becoming the sole providers of everything that the National Education Policy expected was a tall ask. The public library emerged as an institutional space that could be used to supplement the exposure children needed and opened up a whole world of possibilities.
The Read Aloud programme run by the public librarians of Karnataka under the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Government of Karnataka Department has been phenomenal to watch. Book borrowing, repeat attendance and foot fall in these once quiet spaces has sky rocketed. There are very few safe and vibrant public spaces for children to access in the country, and the public library is one such highly untapped and non-threatening learning space.
Let’s celebrate the transformation of these spaces and the Librarians themselves!
