Surya Prakash runs a library in Gopalganj.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned the library in his Mann Ki Baat on November 24. What is special is that he mentioned the library located in Gopalganj district of Bihar, thanks to which today children and youth of many villages are provided with facilities.
In fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on Sunday in the 116th episode of his ‘Mann Ki Baat’. In this episode, Prime Minister Modi spoke about the people of the country, from the youth to the farmers. He congratulated the cadets on NCC Day.
mentioned the library
There was also talk of the Indians settled in the South American country Guyana. What was special about this episode was that Prime Minister Narendra Modi also mentioned the library functioning in a village located in Kuchaikot block of Gopalganj district of Bihar. Kuchaykot is a border place of the district. The border here is with Kushinagar of Uttar Pradesh. This journey that began about 10 years ago has today become a caravan.
Located in Kuchayakot.
The foundation of this library was laid by local youth Surya Prakash Rai. Regarding the opening of this library, Surya Prakash says that the purpose of starting it was to bring the light of education to those children who were hitherto deprived of this light. Surya Prakash tells that it was initiated in Bania Chhapar village of Kuchaykot block. It started in 2013.
change through education
Surya Prakash says that our only thought was that through education, the flame of education should be awakened among all those who have hitherto been deprived of it. Our effort was to make children’s literature available to children, so that whichever child the book reached, all children could read and understand it. Our third objective was to gradually shift the entire Bihar towards reading culture. We start with this objective.
IIT Mumbai Study
Surya Prakash earned a master’s degree in philosophy from IIT Mumbai. Surya Prakash says that the main reason behind starting this experimental library in Gopalganj was that my ancestral residence is Gopalganj. Although the family members lived in Ranchi, the relationship with the village always remained. Whenever I came to town I thought that education is the only thing that can change the situation. I used to think that if I do anything in my life, I will do it only in the field of education.
Surya Prakash said that I always kept my work above all else. When I started this job, I didn’t expect to have such great success. When I started working, I started receiving support from people. People continued to join together. Every time a new district magistrate came to the district, he greatly appreciated our work. When this information reached the common people, they also helped us a lot.
Work in public schools too.
Surya Prakash says: We started as a community library in our village, but then our caravan continued to grow. After this we also started working in public schools. When we started it, only 15 children came and they were all between 10 and 12 years old. When we started working with them, we realized that we would also have to work with younger children. Because when we started our work, at that time children from 6 to 7 years old also used to come.
When we didn’t have space, he stayed outside. We started with 7th and 8th grade children but in 2017-18 we started with 1st grade children. We currently provide education to children from class one to class five.
work in 90 groups
Surya Prakash Rai, who started this experimental library in 2013 with 15 children, is currently working in 24 government schools. Their work is carried out in about 80-90 villages and hamlets of the Kuchayakot block, which also have government schools. Surya Prakash also says that at the district level we got approval to work in 24 more schools. Now we will work in 48 schools.
start with four people
Surya Prakash says that when I laid the foundation in 2013, I ran the entire campaign almost single-handedly till 2020. Although in the initial phase three to four people partnered with me. There are now about 40 people in our team and about 90 percent of them are local women. Whoever we select, it is our responsibility to train them. We train them locally and outside Bihar where the training takes place. They also send him there so he can better share literature with children. Our effort is to involve as many local people as possible because they can be the first agents of change.
