PATHANAMTHITTA: This is another project that seeks to “drive” the reading habit in school children. And at the wheel is the Pragathi English Medium School in Pathanamthitta district’s Pramadam.
The initiative’s showstopper is a 19-year-old school bus that has been converted into a library.
The Ente Katha Muri (My Story Room), as the library has been named, has proved to be a head turner and pupils now evince keen interest to spend their free time in the “library on wheels” to flip through and reading books, magazines and newspapers.
“The library bus, which is stationed on the campus, is now a favourite with students and we are happy that our experiment for promoting reading has been well-received,” says Bindu M K, principal. “The project was completed last month. The library has over 500 books. Students can access the library every day from 9 am-10 am, at interval times and between 3.15 pm-4.15 pm. We have around 250 students studying in the school and a teacher has been deployed to operate the library,” she said.
“Children love riding school buses and we thought of taking that concept further to converting one of our beloved 30-seater vehicles into a library that would pique the student’s interest and help promote reading. We removed all the original seats and made special seating arrangements and placed a table in the middle. Lights and fans have also been installed in the vehicle,” Bindu added.