The COVID pandemic has disrupted our lives in far-reaching ways. Its impact on children has been devastating. Schools and colleges across many parts of the world had to close, leaving rural children largely disconnected from reading.
Rural libraries began to fill the vacuum. In little over a year in the midst of the pandemic, Karnataka’s rural public libraries, over 5,600 in number, enrolled 15 lakh rural children as members, free of charge. This was possible not only because of enrolment efforts as part of Oduva Belaku (‘Light of Reading’), the State’s rural library revitalisation programme. It was possible because children themselves wanted to come to the library. Rural communities have now taken this forward to create study circles, library gardens, book nests, art and craft activities, and more.
