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My name is Yash Palzang Gurung and I am a recent graduate of St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. We have read a lot about nation building and lending a hand to fellow human beings who falter, yet how many of us have actually done it? It is with this burdened conscience that I began volunteering in the public school in Chakung. The experience has given me a worm's eye view of the education apparatus of our nation. I am unhappy with it and would like to make a minuscule change. This is my attempt at doing so. Please lend a hand to this cause, which I promise is worth helping.
Chakung is a village in the West district of Sikkim. The Government secondary school(beneficiary) in this village was built in the year 1930. The school has a strength of about 350 students. Most of them come from low income households. Some belong to the orphanage nearby.
The school has decent infrastructure for a public school. However, the facilities are bare bones and would be considered abysmal in any private school. The children in the school wish to read but there is no library for them to go to. A library does exist, but only in name. It is a classroom filled with textbooks that the government provides for free to the underprivileged students of the school. Shortage of funds means that barely any money remains for buying novels and encyclopaedias.
I, a volunteer teacher in the school, spoke to the principal regarding a library. He is more than willing but the shortage of funds seems to be an insurmountable hurdle.
The room that was originally meant to be a library has a table tennis board in the middle and dirt in the corner. Benches(Cheap and cost effective), tables and shelves need to be built. Then books to fill those shelves need to be bought. It would be very gracious of all who are reading this to help out those who are not as fortunate as you. Children in class 9 can barely write sentences without mistakes. Only reading can solve this.
Sikkim also happens to have the highest suicide rate in India, around 34 per 100,000. Various studies have shown that libraries can help reduce the rate of suicide as well as help society progress. The library is intended to be a community centre as well as a place where students can study.
I believe that progress should not be confined to just the prosperous and posh neighbourhoods of our country. Even students in a remote village called Chakung deserve to read Tolstoy, Ishiguro and Saunders.
Please donate to a worthy cause.
The school has decent infrastructure for a public school. However, the facilities are bare bones and would be considered abysmal in any private school. The children in the school wish to read but there is no library for them to go to. A library does exist, but only in name. It is a classroom filled with textbooks that the government provides for free to the underprivileged students of the school. Shortage of funds means that barely any money remains for buying novels and encyclopaedias.
I, a volunteer teacher in the school, spoke to the principal regarding a library. He is more than willing but the shortage of funds seems to be an insurmountable hurdle.
The room that was originally meant to be a library has a table tennis board in the middle and dirt in the corner. Benches(Cheap and cost effective), tables and shelves need to be built. Then books to fill those shelves need to be bought. It would be very gracious of all who are reading this to help out those who are not as fortunate as you. Children in class 9 can barely write sentences without mistakes. Only reading can solve this.
Sikkim also happens to have the highest suicide rate in India, around 34 per 100,000. Various studies have shown that libraries can help reduce the rate of suicide as well as help society progress. The library is intended to be a community centre as well as a place where students can study.
I believe that progress should not be confined to just the prosperous and posh neighbourhoods of our country. Even students in a remote village called Chakung deserve to read Tolstoy, Ishiguro and Saunders.
Please donate to a worthy cause.
