A few students of the Commerce Department at St Xavier’s College, Thumba, found it difficult to continue their studies without textbooks ten years ago. Though many of them were from poor families, they had a strong determination to become graduates, which would help them secure good jobs and help their families. But these students could not afford a single book as it was too costly for them.
In order to help these students, especially those from fishermen’s families, one among the teaching staff of the department, Zajo Joseph, started a book bank.
What really led to the launching of the book bank was an incident that took place in the second year BCom class then. Remembering the incident, the professor says that during those years, the syllabus of the Income Tax paper was a bit heavy. “I gave some homework to the entire class, but one among the students did not carry out the task. When I asked him about the reason, he replied that he couldn’t do it because he did not have a textbook,” said Joseph.
“When I asked him more, the student revealed that his father was bedridden and it was difficult to make both ends meet with the earnings of his mother alone. Hearing which, I gave him a copy of the book that I had with me,” he said.
Further enquiries revealed that there were a few more students in the department who were in similar circumstances. That was as an eye-opener to the good-hearted teacher. Now, the book bank started in 2003 by Joseph, an assistant professor at Commerce Department to benefit as many as 35 students, is ten years old. Today, it helps several students who want to study and the book bank has a collection of around 400 books worth around Rs 50,000 and it is still growing. So far, the scheme has benefited more than 250 students.
Joseph said that when he mooted the idea, it was hard to convince the staff and others that the students would return the books. The college has a library of its own, but the books that are taken from the library have to be returned within two weeks. Even if a book is renewed, if any other student demands the same book, preference will be for that person.
Joseph’s scheme lends books to the needy students in the beginning of the academic year and collects them back after the final examinations. There is no need to return or renew the books during the course of the year. During the early days of the book bank, a few books were purchased by Joseph. When the demand for books increased, he approached some of the publishers, who willingly donated books or gave an extra complimentary copy. He also received support from some of his colleagues.
Interestingly, the students of the 2003 batch, after getting jobs, donated new books using their first salary in 2008. Now, the faculty and students here are planning to extend the scheme to other departments also. They also wish to start book banks in other colleges so that many poor students would benefit.