Books for All (BFA), in line with its mission “We don’t teach, we educate”, has started its very first initiative with an aim to create spaces for children “to explore their dreams and talents through unconventional learning techniques”. As part of the plan, ‘Library-cum-Creativity Centres’ have been set up in the government primary schools of urban villages in Noida.
BFA is a Noida-based NGO that has six operational libraries at present.
According to the NGO, their objective is to solve the problem of lack of space and dedicated infrastructure to open a library in government schools. These ‘Hanging Libraries’ did not need any specific space or infrastructure as it could be easily hung on walls and could contain about 130-140 books in English, Hindi and regional languages.
BFA started a drive in 2021 to raise funds for Hanging Libraries that it planned to open across India. By May 2022, they managed to raise funds to 50 libraries and have already installed 44 Hanging Libraries in four states of India.
Hanging Library met with its first demand out of Noida from Maharashtra, through Mr Govind, Sarpanch of Umali village in state’s Buldhana district. He approached for some books in Marathi to start a village library.
Out of these, 23 are in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida and Varanasi areas, 13 in Punjab in the districts of Rajpura, Patiala, and Dhuri, 4 in Maharashtra’s Umali, Buldana and Pune and 4 in Bihar in Darbhanga, Khagaria and Lakhisarai.
The initiative is not just limited to schools but has spread out to a roadside Pathshala in Noida which has enabled access of books to street children.
The organisation targets to install 100 Hanging Libraries by the year 2022-23 across India.