Govt high school students to design their own libraries

A joint initiative of the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and Karnataka Knowledge Commission (KKC), the libraries will be in place within a week.

Hitherto, students of these high schools had outdated titles either in locked-up cupboards or books languishing in the head teachers’ rooms that passed off as libraries.
Under a pilot programme titled “Arivu”, the DPI and KKC have now joined hands to develop “open libraries” replete with the latest reference books, dictionaries, atlas, autobiographies, biographies, fiction and non-fiction both in Kannada and English. Open libraries are wherein the students will actually have access to the books.

Primarily, the students have a say in what the libraries should be like. A workshop of teachers and students was conducted in Bangalore and Dharwad to gather inputs. The response was overwhelming, according to research associates from the KKC, actively involved in the project.

The students not only enthusiastically noted their love for books, the titles they wanted to read, but also had suggestions on library-related activity. Some even promised in their feedback forms to handle the books with care, while others had suggestions on the type of book rack and display, the research associates said. Based on the feedback from students and teachers, an expert team put their heads together to finalise the books for the open libraries.

An initial list of 74 Kannada titles and 71 English titles and eight audio-visual material was drawn. A core committee headed by former bureaucrat Shobha Nambisan was constituted to finalise the objectives and terms of reference. The members of the Committee will also play a key role during project implementation and monitoring.

Guidelines framed for the programme provide for various activities at the open libraries including making notes while reading, book reading, story telling, book review and group discussion.

At a later stage, the students will also be introduced to the finer nuances of book writing, adapting a story for a play and organising literary seminars.