The Jamtara district administration, a district which has garnered attention in recent years due to cyber crime, has developed 118 community libraries in each of the 118 panchayats spread over six blocks.
The authorities have renovated dilapidated and unused government buildings where more than 5000 students of government schools and aspirants of various recruitment exams are studying on a regular basis.
All the libraries have been adopted by one senior teacher of government school of the respective areas, where government officials and policemen also take regular classes after their duty hours to motivate the students.
Talking to The Telegraph Online today, Faiz Aq Ahmed Mumtaz, Deputy Commissioner of Jamtara, who is leading the Community Library project launched in November 2019 from Chengaidih Panchayat of Jamtara block said, “Besides the regular classes conducted every day we have arranged for special guidance classes on Wednesday and Sunday during which the government officials including police officers provide tips to the students to crack various competitive exams including Banking, Railway, SSC etc.”
“All kinds of books including NCERT text books, competitive exams, General Studies, English, History, magazines and periodicals etc have been made available in all the libraries and books are continuously being donated by various people from different parts of the country through couriers etc,” said Mumtaz who himself takes classes.
The library project has helped the students during the pandemic when schools and colleges were closed. They used the facility to carry out self study and also avail the guidance provided by the teachers and other government officials associated with the libraries.
“Besides the text books and educational materials for competitive examination we have also made books on cookeries and foods available in order to attract women to the libraries,” said Ahmad and added that the library project of the district has become so popular across the country that administrations of several districts in North Eastern states have also followed the model.
Khurshid Ansari, a villager and librarian of the first library established in Chegaidih Panchayat said, “Classes for the school students are conducted every day from 3pm to 5 pm everyday by two local B. Ed degree holders of our village- Wasim Akram and Maqsood Alam- while the aspirants of competitive exams carry out self study during the evening hours from 7pm to 9 pm.”
“A lot of changes have taken place in educational environment of the panchayat ever since the establishment of the library on November 20, 2019 as besides the students, even the common villagers also visit to the library to read newspapers which we procure on regular basis,” said Ansari, a college graduate who earns his livelihood through farming on his land.
