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This 19-Yr-Old Is On Mission To Improve Education System In Bihar With Her 'Community Library Project'
Bihar, 17 Dec 2021 3:30 AM GMT
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Sadiya Riyaz Shaikh started this project to prevent children, from remote villages in Bihar, from dropping out of school. It provides free syllabus material and additional support books to all children from Class 1-12 and even to competitive exams aspirants.
Bihar is India's third-most populous state, with 99 million people. However, the literacy rate here is the country's lowest at 61.8 per cent; and the female literacy rate is second lowest at 61.8 per cent, according to Census 2011.
Considering all these factors, 19-year-old Sadiya Riyaz Shaikh has started a project called 'The Community Library Project' to help children in remote villages of Bihar. The project aims to encourage them not to discontinue their studies and work in fields, that are the major causes of the increase in Child Labour and child marriages, especially girls.
Sadiya graduated from Mumbai University. She was born in Bihar but later moved with her family to Mumbai for better education and prospects.
"When the lockdown was announced in March 2020, I went back to my village Deora Bandhauli with my family. I realised that financially strong families like mine have been able to migrate to rural centres for better prospects or have sent their children to cities for better education. But what about those who cannot afford this? Their children go to the village government-run school, but they do not have access to basic facilities. Villagers have no option but to withdraw their wards from school because they cannot afford to buy even prescribed syllabus books," Sadiya told The Logical Indian.
The teenager believes that many children are forced to drop out of schools in villages. As a result, they remain illiterate and backward. "I want to help my village children take advantage of opportunities and only a good education can do it. Thus, I wanted to start a Community Library that will provide a free syllabus and additional support books to all children from Class 1-12 and even competitive exams aspirants", Sadiya said.
Maulana Azad Library
The social reform activist started the first library successfully at her village Deora Bandhauli in Darbhanga District of Bihar last year, which is now fully functional and called the Maulana Azad Library. She then moved to Begusarai Lakhminia village to start another community library. Now she aims to open as many remote community libraries as possible to support children's education in rural villages of India.
The Maulana Azad Community Library in Deora Bandhauli now stocks all Bihar School Boards and NCERT syllabus books from Class 1-12, notebooks, stories, comics, and all the other stationery kits. The students can access daily newspapers in two languages and monthly magazines. School children and others in the village can issue these books for use free of cost.
Additionally, the library keeps books on history, literature, and other subjects that village children can also read. It aims to encourage children and young adults in the village to develop a good habit of reading.
The library also keeps books for graduation (B.A, B.Com, B.Sc.). In addition, it stocks support study material for competitive exam aspirants and keeps trying to secure free subscriptions for charity from various publications.
Further, it helps students fill out forms for admission and other such tasks. Awareness workshops and campaigns are also organised for women and children to make them aware of their educational rights, child rights, and women's rights.
Currently, the library has more than 200 daily visitors from all age groups. "Our target for the future is to also equip the library with computers and internet so the village children can have access to these facilities as well," Sadiya shared.
Sadiya's Other Initiatives
Previously, the 19-year-old had also worked with MEEM.org to feed the people in Bihar's Darbhanga who were affected by floods in 2020, and also helped several people to start their small businesses. Being a social reform activist and a public speaker, she was recently one of the nominees of the All India Women Achievers Award 2021. She was also a part of 100 inspiring women featured at the Global Women Inspiration Awards and Conclave 2021.
Sadiya is also working with one of the Global KidsRights.org and has been a member of the Asia World Model United conference. In addition, she received an award for Emerging Social Work Leader of the year 2021 and now has been nominated for Humanitarian Excellence Award.
" I am humbled by these honours and they motivate me to work harder to change the lives of many young children and women from my country India. I will continue to work for child welfare and education with renewed energy and inspiration with your support," she said.
To help Sadiya open the next library and to continue looking for more places in select districts, visit ImpactGuru.com
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