Representative image showing a library.
Credit: iStock Photo
Bengaluru: Nearly a year after the announcement, the state government has started the process of setting up 6,599 new village libraries for which the Centre has sanctioned Rs 263.96 crore.
These new libraries will be modelled after the Arivu Centres of gram panchayats. The Arivu Centres were simply libraries before their transformation, starting 2019, which saw them using digital tools to help children and adults learn better.
The 6,599 new libraries are being established under the Union government’s Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment. The government has already procured books published by National Book Trust India of the Ministry of Education from the first tranche release of Rs 131.98 crore.
The Cabinet, which met last week at Chamarajanagar, approved the procurement of computers and Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems at a cost of Rs 65.99 crore for the new libraries.
Rural Development & Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Minister Priyank Kharge said the new libraries would come up in villages where there is demand.
“The existing libraries are not used merely for newspaper reading. Because these libraries are digital, a lot of students prepare for competitive exams there. They have access to university databases. People have passed Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) and other competitive exams after preparing for them at these libraries,”
Priyank told DH.
The government also offers career counselling at Arivu Centres through Dell and Wipro, the minister added.
“Summer camps are being held for children in the rural libraries. We’re finding that the libraries are turning into community spaces,” Additional Chief Secretary (Panchayat Raj) Uma Mahadevan said.
“The existing Panchayat libraries may be at a distance for people living in villages outside Gram Panchayat headquarters. The new village libraries will come up in available spaces such as unused classrooms, community buildings, old anganwadi or panchayat buildings,” she said.
Karnataka will have a total of over 12,500 rural libraries. “These will be deeply decentralised and allow for availability of spaces for studies. Students and other library users can access both print and digital learning resources,” Uma said.