Children build a treasure trove in Bangalore

Usually, children who want to read books either buy it from a book store or rent it from a library. But here’s a strange but inspiring case of a group of children running a library on their own. In fact, this act of theirs won them an award.

A group of 10 children from Chagaletti, a small hamlet about 28km from Bangalore, has set up a library on their own.
In fact, the Chagaletti Makkala Granthalaya (Chagaletti Children’s Library) has done wonders by changing the reading habits of children in the village.

The Chagaletti library was chosen for the best library award from among 125 libraries across India. The award, instituted by the Hippocampus Reading Foundation (HRF), was given to the library recently in Bangalore.

A charitable trust set up in 2004 by the Hippocampus Children’s Experience Centre (www.hippocampus.in), HRF, mainly works towards inspiring children from backward communities to read more by setting up ‘active libraries’ in government schools and community centres in partnership with other NGOs.

The Chagaletti library was chosen for the honour as it is one of very few well-maintained libraries in the country. Besides being run by children, it also boasts of a reasonably good collection of books.

Inaugurated on August 14, 2010, the library has managed to enrol about 90 children of the village as its members.

The library is an initiative of the Child Rights Trust (CRT), Bangalore, to encourage children to develop reading habits.
Expressing her happiness on receiving the award, Meghana, the 17-year-old librarian of Chagaletti Makkala Granthalaya, said the honour would motivate them to improve the library further.

“It’s a big honour for us. Since the inception of the library, we have been trying our best to develop it into a full-fledged library. We have graded our books in various sections and our collection too has improved a lot,” said a visibly excited Meghana.

Sharing his joy on the success, Karthik, another founding-member who looks after the library, said that children who visited the library regularly had improved their reading and writing skills.

“The library is a perfect place for children to learn and have fun. Besides reading, we also engage ourselves in activities like solving puzzles, quizzes, and sports and games,” said Karthik.

The children’s parents in the village are also elated over their kids’ ‘constructive’ activities. “Before the library was set up, our children loitered about or watched television. Now, most of them head towards the library,” said Pushpa, a mother.