A compilation of stories of children, teachers and librarians who inspire to keep going and give hope that things will get better, from Parag
Amidst the nationwide lockdowns in the country, the approach to children’s learning and particularly of those from the marginalised sections has been affected. More than academics the social and emotional well-being of children need to be taken care of at this time. And what better way than stories that children can read, hear and watch to escape from everyday troubles and worries.
Despite the challenges of the medium, we were able to instil a love for libraries and books among children, parents and communities by supporting our field teams and volunteers to conduct community library sessions, taking books to children who could no longer come to school libraries, enriching book collections across libraries and offering Library Educator's Course (LEC) online.
“I miss my school library. I read out stories to my parents and children in my mohalla from the books which are provided by our library teacher at home,” says Sanjay Gawariya, a class 5 student from Katai Bunai Beda, Pali (Rajasthan). The Parag team, along with associate organisations of Tata Trusts working in multiple states, has ensured that children have access to literature and stories by distributing small book collections in villages through children library committees.
In the year 2020-21, Parag published 31 books with partner publishers, trained 4,373 teachers, organised 11,654 community library sessions and reached 25,240 children with the help of committed community-level facilitators.
As part of Tata Trusts, we are committed to reaching children and teachers with stories of hope. We have put together stories from the ground of children, teachers and librarians who inspire us to keep going and give us hope that things will get better.
