Kajal, a 10-year-old student at Gaya, Bihar's Rahimbigha Middle School, reads at the fifth-grade level. Prior to the implementation of the “Literacy and Library Program” in her school, she barely ever had the opportunity to read any high-quality story books because she comes from a low-income family that cannot afford to buy the story books. This programme helped her become more familiar with good books, and she now reads them frequently, increasing her literacy and developing her reading habits. Her class teacher asserted that Kajal becomes regular in her school, she comes to the library regularly to read books, listen to stories and do reader's theatre . This is not just the story of one Kajal who attended school solely for the purpose of reading the best books in the library.There are thousands of thousands of students in government schools who, whether consciously or unconsciously, are looking at us in anticipation of the advantages of the Children's Library that Kajal received. Books are important, but it's also important to create a fearless environment in the library classroom so that students can think beyond the box.


Sushila Kumari has been a teacher at the Kandi Primary School since 2003. She put a lot of effort into teaching in order to impact her students' lives, but she was never satisfied with her teaching abilities. She was chosen to join the workshop after the Gaya Literacy & Library Program was launched, and in the first workshop, she stood out like a dark horse. She avoided conversation and preferred quiet. She became more confident and outspoken about her development as a result of our team's regular help visits to her school. She also showed that she could improve her teaching techniques by engaging children in the library classroom through activities like Read Aloud and Book Talk. This made sure that she rose to the top of the faculty at the school and helped students learn and develop.
Now She discusses the advantages and outcomes of the children's library, including:

• The students started to acquire reading habits.
• The library belongs to the students.
• Teachers are open to conversation with students.
• Students assist one another in reading.
• After lunch, students used to flee the classroom, but this has decreased.

Our Introduction:
Karunodaya is a section 8 registered Not-for-Profit Organisation, with 12AB, 80G & CSR-1, certificate. Karunodaya envisioned to ensure equitable and quality education for children in elementary schools. We work with government school teachers, DIET, education department officials, and the local communities to address these challenges.
 
Our work:  
We are aligned to RTE Act 2009, NCF 2005 and NEP 2020 and focus on setting up libraries, with children centric books and design, Capacity building of teachers on library activities, Whole language approach, small group management, Developing processes at school and district level to sustain these processes. Karunodaya focuses on foundational skills like meaningfully reading, writing, and giving children opportunity to read children books at primary grade. At present we are working  in 30 govt schools Out of 16 schools that are DIET lab schools in Gaya District, Bihar.  
 
Our impact: 
The Literacy & Library program's journey was both spectacular and challenging. We began this program in September of 2021 and realised that both our team and the programme as a whole were expanding. This library initiative was a new concept in Bihar for primary kids in grades 1 to 5. We initially had to deal with a lot of limitations from the Department of Education, headmasters, and teachers. They refused to believe that this library programme might impact students in grades 1 to 5 and enhance their reading. However, after working with them for the first six months, we were able to observe the impacts on both teachers and students, which are listed below:
 

• Total 685 students read 1004 books & 50 teachers read 152 books. 
• Trained 25 teachers from 14 government schools and karunodaya team shadowing them 
• Out of 685 Students, 100 students  can narrate the whole story 
• Headmasters supported the Library Program and observed that this program helps in the rapid development of reading skills in students. 
• Attendance has improved by 40 percent in 10 schools.

Our Learning: 
When we give students children-centric books, reading spaces, and a fear-free learning environment, we see that they are more interested in reading. Surprisingly, attendance has increased as a result of the library program. Students are taking ownership of the Library  which helps them to build leadership in them. Even our facilitators, who often visit the school, saw how the library program gave the students lots of opportunities to read books and stimulate their creativity.

Support us to reach millions of students who need most by: (T=Teachers, Ss=Students):

• Setting up a Model Library (Impact 10T & 200Ss): INR 50000
• Setting up a Classroom Library (Impact 5T & 150Ss): INR 30000
• A Set of 10 children centric books:  INR 1000
• Library cost per Student per year:  INR 500