KARUR: Vijayalalitha never imagined the power of a library as crowd-puller. The headmistress of a nondescript school in Karur is still awestruck. Her school, which could have passed for any other village government institution, now holds some magic.
A few months ago, an ‘admission full’ board outside the school gate made people wonder. The rush for admission to a government school came at a time when parents scrambled to send their wards to private schools in the hope of securing a better future. The Narikatiyur Panchayat Union Primary school at Gandhigramam is making a perceptible change to its image and the lives of students.
It is drawing on the power of the written word to attract students. Vijayalalitha tells TNIE how a little library idea is making all the difference. She recalled how 11 teachers, including herself, started this journey of change. “The school doesn’t have a library. But teachers secured books like Thennaliraman, Akbar and Birbal, etc, to be read out to children. They engaged students through storytelling and they took to it easily,” she says.This obviously had a positive effect.
In 2021-22, the school got 226 new student enrolments. It had to reject 75 applications due to a lack of seats. The school now has 575 students, among the highest in the State for any government primary school, Vijayalalitha says proudly.
Neither the village nor the school had a library but the students set up libraries in their own homes. The school encourages parents to gift children with books for birthdays and festive occasions. The students pick books on Tamil literature from their parents’ collection and have added their academic books to the racks, too.
On an average, each student library has around 30 books, including fiction, textbooks, non-fiction about animals, birds, nature, human body, general knowledge, science, colouring books, workbooks, social education, magic tricks, etc. “473 of the 575 students of the school have set up libraries at home. The children even maintain a record of the books they read,” Vijayalalitha adds. Surya, father of Dhiya and Dhiyasree of Class 4, says her daughters have set up a small library at home. “They pick up a book every day after homework. I think books play a huge role in the development of children,” he says.
Like other students, both his children love reading. “I even like to draw pictures from the stories I love most. It makes me happy,” says Dhiya. The school has submitted petitions to higher officials for permission and funds to set up a library in the locality to nurture young minds. The headmistress, teachers, students and parents are eagerly awaiting a response.