School authorities say that they are using half the area of the school library as classrooms due to lack of space.
Bangalore: K Gollahalli Government High School lacks proper library facilities for students. The library has no tables, chairs or shelves to keep the books
Geetha T, Head teacher of the school said that due to shortage of rooms they were using half the library as a classroom. She said, “We don’t have a proper library . As the number of students have increased, we are using half the library room as a classroom. We provide books to the students in the classroom.”
As a consequence, the library is not silent.
On the other hand, the Government Primary School in K Golahalli has a library, but all is not as it seems. Bhagya, a teacher from K Gollahalli government primary school said, “We have a separate room for the library. But we don’t have tables, chairs or cupboards to keep books.”
Harish, a seventh standard student from K. Gollahalli primary school said, “We have a library. but since we don’t have tables and chairs our teachers provide the books in the classroom and we read in the classroom.”
Saneha, a tenth standard student from the high school said, “Library room is not at all good and it is not reader friendly either. No new books are there in our library.”
An official from the office of the Commissioner for Public Instruction said, “We do provide proper funds to every school. But in some schools they have lacunae in infrastructure. We are taking this into consideration and will provide proper amenities for their libraries.”
Pranayani, a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) professor, said, “For a student, the reading habit is most important and a student must read different books out of their syllabus. The school should provide proper infrastructure so that students will get proper reading environment, else they will lose interest in reading.”
According to the Samagra Shiksha guidelines, a school library should have a reading room with a seating capacity of 40 to 120 students at a time to develop reading habit in students.
