30-Year-Old Woman Sets Up Free Roadside 'Self-Help' Library in Rural Arunachal Pradesh
Thirty-year-old Ngurang Meena has set up Arunachal Pradeshs first roadside library to engage more youth into reading. Most children in the state fail to develop reading habits in their growing up years because books are scarce. Meena hailing from Nirjuli in Papum Pare district set up a street corner library on August 30.
Thirty-year-old Ngurang Meena has set up Arunachal Pradesh's first roadside library to engage more youth into reading. This novel idea came to fruition when she saw that the state has a wine shop every 100 metres but a library not in sight.
Most children in the state fail to develop reading habits in their growing up years because books are scarce in rural Arunachal.
To reverse this trend, Meena, hailing from Arunachal's Nirjuli in Papum Pare district has set up a street corner library on August 30 solely by her own efforts.
Roadside library in Arunachal Pradesh pic.twitter.com/oAwFDKE2PT
¡ª Nirvikar Singh (@NirvikarRana) September 9, 2020
¡°I bought books of all kinds worth Rs 10,000 and spent another Rs 10,000 to make the wooden ¡®Self-Help Library¡¯. I have kept 70-80 books there and the rest are in my room,¡± said Ngurang Meena, who has been encouraging the locality¡¯s children to spend 15-20 minutes at the library every day. ¡°I have been asking the kids to visit the library by offering them chocolates,¡± Meena told The Times of India.
What a wonderful idea!! A 30 year old woman Ngrurang Meena sets up 1st free roadside library in Nirjuli in Papum Pare, Arunachal Pradesh. Meena's effort to keep youth away from visiting wine shops and rather inculcate the habit of reading. Lady bought 70-80 books worth Rs 10,000. pic.twitter.com/zmNVsBx2tt
¡ª Nandan Pratim Sharma Bordoloi ?? (@NANDANPRATIM) September 13, 2020
She said that idea to set up a library dawned upon her when she came across a photo on Facebook of a Mizo youth on a bike, reaching out towards a tiny box with shelves full of books.
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That was one of the several free little libraries that have sprung up in Aizawl.
¡°Although my inspiration is Mizoram, I realise that Arunachal is very different. Kids have poor writing skills. I want students of Classes IX-XII to improve themselves by reading more,¡± Meena said, adding that the nearest government library is in Naharlagun, 10 kilometers away.
The library has received books from two donors so far.
