A new library in every village in Tamilnadu

There was some interesting news today, the 28th April, 2010 in The Hindu newspaper. The Education Minister of Tamilnadu had issued a statement that the government is proposing to ensure a library in every village in the state by the end of this year. This is a yet another positive step being taken by the Government of Tamilnadu. Already Government had initiated moves to create a world class library in Chennai and I am sure in the days to come, we may have much better libraries in every district headquarters. The question is: Will this become yet another standing symbol of governmental efforts? Only time will tell.
Most villages have schools – at least a primary school. But there are reports about many deficiencies about their functioning including lack of basic amenities like proper classrooms, roofs, toilet and drinking water, quality teachers and absenting staff and so on. Government has sponsored several lofty programs for education that have failed at implementation levels. People also seem to lack the discipline and feeling that the facility and the program belong to them.
To me the problem appears to be one of lack of commitment, involvement and dedication and hyper-active politicizing of every issue. Those at the top will have to demonstrate their will power to implement various government programs in an open and transparent manner and ensure that the benefits reach the people for whom they are intended. Before we create more infrastructure and facilities, we need to strengthen and consolidate existing ones.
Book reading habit should be widely spread and encouraged among more people. Through awards and incentives, the school children and college students need to be encouraged to spend a part of the day or the week in reading. Regular library hours in all educational institutions should be encouraged and enforced. Thanks to stupendous growth and proliferation of electronic and visual media, the print media seems to be struggling against their onslaught. However thrilling they are, the children should be weaned away from spending undue time on electronic video games, which may lead to serious health problems over time. Today, we see even children in lower classes spending their entire evening time in tuition classes, and special classes rather than spending their time in a library or playground. There could be many like me who could be interested in opening small street libraries as a social service and this could be encouraged.
Nowadays, many new books are prohibitively costly and only libraries and affluent can afford. The authorities in charge of selecting books should be impartial in buying quality books rather than encouraging favoritism. A number of people have book collections and may be interested in donating them to libraries if they find that the libraries are run well and efficiently used. This may be encouraged in all districts. If private people are willing to open libraries, after proper scrutiny, they could be given state support in getting books at subsidized prices and other means. Language bias should be avoided as far as book selections are concerned –whether we like it or not, English has come to be accepted as a language that is understood by most and used for communicating with each other by most world population.
More than anything else, children should be freed of today’s stressful overloading of homework and compulsive need to be competitive in academic performance. They should be encouraged to seek more knowledge and information (not just filmy tit-bits alone) that improves their awareness and kindles curiosity and seeking that lead to research, development and innovation. Reading helps improving the way we communicate and develop our power of expression that improves our leverage and influencing in human relationships. Today, everything is about selling and persuasion. You see around, anywhere and everywhere, someone is always trying to sell something or persuade someone to buy something, may be an idea, a product or services – be it in family or business.
Reading as a hobby is a great stress reliever and develops our ability to visualize and imagine and develop our creative power. Look at children books like ‘Lord of the Rings’; several million copies have been sold all over the world – the story is just a fantasy. Can’t we create a parallel that sells at least a million copies? At least in Tamil language, some of the older people might remember the stories of ‘Thuppariyum Sambu’ (Detective Sambu), Veera Vijayan pictorial stories, Kanni Theevu daily serial pictorial stories, Chandamama stories and the likes that were great hits among children and elders alike a few decades back. There are many more legendary tales about stories and writers of yesteryears. In my young days, all in the family used to have a fight over who would read that day’s Dina Thanthi or the weeklies Kumudam or Vikatan, when they arrived. Today, probably the TV serials have taken over that place and reading is given a go-by. But what do the serials encourage – revenge, challenge, plotting, enmity, infidelity and what not – look at most of the serials to have some proof. Not that every serial is bad –there are many good ones too, but how many watch them?
I am grateful to the Municipal Library and the Saiva Sidhantha Noorpathippu Kazhagam’s library in my native place during my younger days for greatly influencing me in so many ways in my shaping up. I also thank my college library, the old Moore Market old book shops, the legendary roadside old books shops at Luz, Mylapore, Chennai or Ajmal Khan Road, Karol Bagh, New Delhi for my book collections about which I am quite proud of.
A library in every village! Very good move Minister! Please make them work. We wish you and the movement well. We will support you unhesitatingly.
(Readers may also look at:www.neel48.blogspot.com for my other stories)