NEW DELHI: In a boost to women and girls of Karala village preparing for competitive exams, an all-women community-level library was inaugurated on Tuesday by the North West district administration under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme. “This library is a first-of-its kind. There are no exclusive women only libraries in the district. There are private libraries but they are located far away from villages,” Cheshta Yadav, District Magistrate, North West Delhi told this newspaper.
Yadav said that the library aims at providing space for girls to study at their own convenience near their homes in a safe environment. “We will try to have guidance and counselling centres at regular intervals for competitive exams.”
Saumya Sharma, SDM, Kanjhawala, who took up the initiative for setting up the library, said that the priority is to prepare young girls for medical, engineering, UPSC and other entrance exams. “Last year a woman from Majri village secured good position in a competitive exam. So we thought why not more women be given a platform where they can be guided and trained in a better way,” she said. “We hope that more and more women comes up for the library.”
For the library, books were selected by the Vision IAS — a centre providing help to aspirants for understanding the demand of UPSC exam and forconstantly innovating to keep the preparation process dynamic for civil service tests.
“We have been thinking of the library for quite some time now. We got a request from the villagers. The men approached us and requested for library to be set up at community level for women,” said Sharma.
The interior wall of the library is decorated with paintings and murals by Vrikshit Foundation to promote the power of learning. “This project is community driven. If other villagers are interested and if there is enough space, we will try to emulate it in more villages,” the DM said.