Non-resident Villagers set-up 3055 Gyan Key libraries benefiting over 8.5 lakhs children
Bharat: Pune-based social entrepreneur Pradeep Lokhande of Rural Relations has revolutionised the way children in rural India has been studying.
With his unique Non-Resident Villagers (NRV) initiative, he has been establishing Gyan-key libraries with the motto of igniting the minds of rural children through books. Lokhande’s aim is to set-up 94,000 Gyan-key libraries across India.
The Gyan-key library initiative is focused on opening libraries in rural secondary schools in key villages across the states of India with two major objectives – increase the reading habit in local language & bring change in its reader’s mentality. It is a unique concept – a library of the students, for the students and by the students.
The Gyan-key library is monitored by one of the girl-students from Class VI of the village school, designated as the The Gyan-key library monitor. Each library opens with a minimum of 170-200 books in the local language covering most of the subjects that interest students in the secondary school like drama, music, disaster management, sex education, rangoli making, stitching, debate/elocution, time management, history of forts, etc. to instil a sense of ownership, students are encouraged to build this The Gyan-key library on their own by gifting books (regardless of the cost) on their birthday. This is intended to create a strong bond with the library.
Lokhande hails from Wai in Satara district of Maharashtra and completed his education away from it but the village remained in his heart. He believes that every Indian living in the city or abroad is a Non-Resident Villager (NRV). Every NRV gets pleasantly nostalgic whenever someone utters the magic word ‘my hometown’ or ‘the village of my forefathers’. “Now that we are leading comfortable lives, we need to re-visit the village of our forefathers with a sense of ownership, compassion and contemplation. Each one of us has an NRV within us, because ultimately, our roots can be traced back to the villages. Therefore, as an NRV, we can always reach out, support and contribute something meaningful to the development of our rural India,” says Lokhande, the CEO and founder of Rural Relations, who has been working for development of villages for the last over 20 years.
His game changer initiative is villagewiKY, an open information platform of key and feeder villages in India. This enables a deep understanding of village dynamics by ecography, sociaography, geography, demography, professionals & institutes.
The time has come to gently remind ourselves and others that the prosperity of our cities rests on the prosperity of our villages i.e. tomorrow’s India.
As a supporter of the Non-Resident Villager (NRV) movement, you can do a lot for your special village with the help of villagewiKY data (in technology, youth and specially for secondary going school students which is the future of India).
Since the Non-Resident Villager (NRV) hails from the same village, district, state or region, there will be instant bonding, eliminating the intermediary.
Our village developers are helping create awareness about the Non-Resident Villager (NRV) movement to opinion leaders in key / feeder villages by region by state.
You too can participate in the The Gyan-key library initiative. For just Rs. 5,555/- you have an opportunity to contribute for a worthy cause – trigger a passion for reading and learning among 150-300 students of 8-10 villages. To ensure transparency, donations are accepted only by cheque/RTGS drawn in favour of the distributor. The school which receives your gift (The Gyan-key library) will write to you as also the school students, once the The Gyan-key library becomes operational.
How can you participate:
– Patronize through Rs 5,555 to the worthy cause
– The cheque shall be made favoring the publishers directly
– School Principal/student feedback shall be communicated on periodic basis
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