PRAYOG Starts its Community Library ‘Baal Bagicha’ in Gopalganj, Bihar on June 15th, 2013

If you want a change, just do something! Rather than having discussions over it and waiting for the right time. This is the working philosophy behind PRAYOG. ‘PRAYOG’, which means experiment, signifies various possible designs to bring about even a small change.

Contrary to our perception, youth have all sorts of fantasies in life! And how good would it be to shape them. In the month of May, 2013 when the first interaction took place with six students of high school in Gopalganj, their aspirations were something that triggered the concept of enriching their vision. Apart from  the traditional choices amongst youth in the villages such as joining the armed forces, the response of two students – Alok and Akash was quite different. Alok aspires to become a model while Akash wants to pursue higher education with Physics as major subject and aims to become a Professor some day. How many students of a high school actually want to join academics by choice and how many dare to even think of becoming a model?

Prayog is an alliance of thoughts of four individuals from varied sectors, each with a vision to instill enthusiasm, vision and exposure to the youth of villages in north Bihar. With the ‘Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan’, already running successfully in the state, the Prayog team aims to influence the vision of rural youth, who are already talented but lack an exposure to the outside world. Based on the personal experiences which each of the four members faced in their village, an education initiative has been planned whereby ‘rural fellows’ would  be identified and mentored, who in turn will mentor the other children who lack resources for proper education or are left-out in the course of schooling because of no mentoring at home.

To start the fellowship initiative it was crucial to understand the needs of the youth, their daily activities, preferences and approach towards life. Prayog has hence started a rural library aiming to create a space for interaction amongst the youth and a common place for learning through a different approach. This is the ‘baal bagicha’ (children orchard) which will bear the fruits in the form of enlightened minds! The library has started with a collection of 32 books in following categories: tales, mythology, eminent personalities, inspirational stories, Gandhi collection, general knowledge and IQ, science, language, atlas, dictionary, periodicals and a daily newspaper. There are 24 members enrolled in primary school to University who are the current beneficiaries of this initiative. Books and youth will keep on ever increasing!