Library of Hope

The state of Maharashtra in western India is the nation’s wealthiest and home to Mumbai, the country’s financial center. In the rural areas of the state, however, many children have no access to books until they begin their schooling. And with no preparation for school, many children drop out early in frustration or boredom. An organization called PaanPoee Vachanalaya was founded in 2003 to bring books to pre-school children in rural Maharashtra. With the assistance of Vanasthali Rural Development Center, which operates rural pre-schools in the state, PaanPoee Vachanalaya began lending books to young children in the area. The PaanPoee project got a big boost in 2007, when Home of Hope, a San Francisco-based charity whose projects primarily focus on aiding children in India, began funding it. The contributions allowed the project to purchase far more books, to its current total of 4,500, and open libraries in all eight of the VRDC’s school centers; only one of the schools had a library prior to Home of Hope’s involvement. HOH funds also help to pay for fuel and van rental to deliver books to community centers.  The VRDC operates school centers in eight of Maharashtra’s 31 counties, and PaanPoee vans deliver books to these school centers, explained Home of Hope spokesperson Jennifer Neale. Teachers collect books and deliver them by foot or bicycle to their balwadis—the 206 village nursery schools throughout the eight counties that teach more than 10,000 children the basics of reading and arithmetic. Handwritten ledgers track which books are on loan to which school at any given time. There is no data yet on the effectiveness of the program, but Home of Hope has gathered anecdotal evidence of educational improvements. Jayashree Nangude, librarian at the primary school in Jejuri, reports that students, teachers, and some parents borrow books for home reading. And Chhaya Pawar, deputy manager of the VRDC school center in Shirwal, said that the books help to keep students’ attention and interest. “One of our teachers asked students to tell a story every day,” she said. “It was difficult for a student to tell a story. But now with so many strong books available to read, children clamor for an opportunity to recite a story, or begin a tale on their own.”