Padma Shri: Meet Uncle Moosa Who Quit His Government Job To Provide Affordable Education To Children In Arunachal Pradesh

SatyanarayanMundayoor or Uncle Moosa – how children call him – has spent more than 32 yearsin the North East India helming the affordable education to all and reading movements.

In 1979, Kerala-bornUncle Moosa quit his secure government job in the income tax department inMumbai to foray into a life that’s not just about money. He was keen to build upreading habits among children. He would carry books in trunks using tatteredstate transport buses to reach the remote areas where tribal families live.

In 2007, incollaboration with the Association of Writers and Illustrators for Children(AWIC) and the Vivekananda Trust, a gift of children’s’ books and magazinesbecame the first library as part of the?Lohit Youth Library Movement?inthe government town of Tezu.

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That was thefirst step.

So far,Uncle Moosa has established 13 bamboosa libraries in remote areas like Wakro,Chongkham, Lathaw and Anjaw. These libraries are vast and boast of more than10,000 books raging from the works of Roald Dahl and Ruskin Bond to Amar ChitraKatha. These libraries turn into a hub of activities that include story-telling,quizzes, booking readings, and enactments.

He started ahome library movement entrusting books to volunteers who in turn distributebooks to children.

Uncle Moosahas also written a children’s book in Malayalam on folk heritage of ArunachalPradesh. ??

Uncle Moosa’sextraordinary efforts in reforming education in the northeast were recognisedby the government and he has now been conferred with a Padma Shri Award, thefourth highest civilian honour.