Where have all the libraries gone?

This is the library of Government High School,Hallomajra. And with the broken furniture and old registers,the library has been abandoned.

“The library has around 6,000 books,but not many students get them issued. They have no interest,although we have story books,” Sadhu Ram,headmaster of the school said. Over 4,000 students study in the school in two shifts.

Libraries of schools like Government Senior Secondary School,Dhanas,and Government Senior Secondary School,Sector 26 (Timber Market) are in similar condition.

In case of the Government Middle School,Khuda Jassu,there is no library. “Students go to the Government Senior Secondary School,Khuda Lahora,to read books. But that is very rare,” a peon in the school said.

A teacher,however,claimed a “classroom has been converted into a makeshift reading room”. But these days,the reading room is locked,as “the teacher in-charge is on leave”.

In GSSS,Dhanas,the health room has been converted into a library,which has 5,000 books. Besides a few chairs and tables,the reading room also accommodates a bed for sick students.

This room was also locked. “It is opened for not more than an hour everyday,” the teacher-in-charge said. “Not many students come.”

GSSS-26 (Timber Market) does not have a librarian for 12 years now. “In absence of a librarian,teachers who are assigned the duty have to juggle between their classes and the library,” a teacher at the school said. “Often,they lock the library,which turns students away.”

GSSS-26 (TM) has initiated the concept of reading in classrooms. “Teachers take story books in classrooms during free periods and encourage students to read. Since there is no proper library,this is the only way to generate interest,” school principal D P Sharma said.

Students,on the other hand,also appear uninterested. “Our school does not have a library and that small room cannot accommodate the entire class. So,during free periods,we go to the playground,” a student of GSSS-Dhanas said. “And then the books are also old.”

Condition of libraries in government schools,especially non-model schools,smacks of the UT Administration’s apathy.

Home Secretary Ram Niwas could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. Sunil Bhatia,Director Public Instructions (Schools),refused to comment.

‘Books have lost their appeal for the current generation’
That the current generation is no longer interested in reading is apparent from the diminishing response to the mobile library,a venture of the Central State Library.

With around 5,000 books,the library,housed in a van,visits villages around the city,including Sarnagpur,Dhanas,Dadumajra,Kajheri and Khuda Ali Sher.

“When the project was launched in 1977,children used to wait for the van. Not any longer,” Suraj P Nagpal,state librarian at the Central State Library,said. “Books have lost their appeal for the current generation.”

Despite the library updating books regularly,the number of its readers has dwindled. Even a measly “security deposit of Rs 150 has failed to draw people”. The library stocks mainly religious books,story books and comics.

But the library regularly ties up with schools and village heads to hold workshops on the significance of books.