Jamtara becomes country’s first district with library in every village

Jamtara becomes country's first district with library in every village

Jamtara in Jharkhand is now the only district in the country where all gram panchayats have community libraries. This district has roughly 80,000 people and 118 gram panchayats under six blocks and each panchayat has a well-equipped library that is open for students from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Career counseling and motivational classes are also provided at no cost. IAS and IPS officers sometimes visit these libraries to guide students. Everyone is welcome to visit these cutting-edge locations.

Now, 350 teachers have joined these libraries, and regularly guide the 5,000 students enrolled here. Besides these, books for competitive exams, literature, history, spiritual and motivational topics are also available.

Most of these libraries, whose details, GPS location, photographs, and contact numbers, have been provided on the district’s official website, were set up around two years ago with the assistance of Deputy Commissioner Faiz Aq Ahmed Mumtaz.

Story of the beginning of this Initiative

To know the problems of the villagers in Changidih Panchayat a Janta Darbar was initially organized by the district administration. Villagers complained about the lack of proper educational institutions and books. At that moment, Deputy Commissioner, Faiz decided to facilitate these libraries across the district.

When Faiz received information about abandoned buildings in each district, he thought to renovate them and convert them into libraries. On November 13, 2020, the district’s first-ever community library was inaugurated.

From the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds received from several companies and money received by the district under the 14th and 15th Finance Commission, Rs 60,000-2.5 lakh was spent on the restoration and infrastructure of these libraries.

Then libraries were set up in panchayats such as Chandradeep, Panjaniya, Menjhia, Gopalpur, Shaharpura, Champapur, and Jhilua. To run these libraries villagers elected a President, Treasurer, and Librarian from amongst themselves. They also contributed furniture, water filters, blackboards, and emergency lights for some.

During the Covid-induced lockdown, villagers used at least two teachers to teach students at each library.

According to Faiz, over 10,000 career guidance and motivational sessions have been organized in these libraries in the last one and a half years. Various department officers also take time off to teach classes. Faiz, who is elated with the success of his initiative, told IANS: “The best society is the one which invests the most in education and health. It is our endeavour that capable people of society adopt these libraries.

“I’m excited with the initiative’s fruitful results. Many students studying here every day have started scoring well in competitive examinations. A library member recently cleared the UPSC Civil Services Mains and is now preparing for the interview.”

Azharuddin, who studied in Jiajori Panchayat Library, has cleared the Panchayat Secretary examination of the Jharkhand government. Gaur Chandra Yadav, the librarian at Khaira Panchayat library, said that since the library opened in November 2020, the routine of the nearby students has changed.

On April 20, a seven-member committee, under the leadership of Deputy Secretary of the department, Shambhunath Mishra, of the Panchayati Raj Department of the state government took stock of the library models and visited the ones located in Jiyajori and Shahradal. The people of the committee were very impressed with the arrangement made here.

Jharkhand Assembly Speaker, Rabindranath Mahto, who represents the Nala Assembly constituency in the same district, inaugurated many libraries here. He said that efforts to change the identity of the Jamtara district through libraries have been successful. This model should also be adopted in other districts of the state.

swati sharma

Swati Sharma writes for online publications, and newspapers covering business, technology, health, career, fitness, and sports. She holds a Master of Business Administration degree from one of the reputed universities. She loves to write about every aspect of technology and recent market trends.

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