As it goes about setting up a library, C.S.I. Higher Secondary School for the Deaf on Santhome High Road, Mylapore, is factoring in the unique strength of millennials — digital learning. The library is going to be as adequately stocked up on e-books as it will be on physical books.
Students at the institution, aged between 6 and 24, come from an underprivileged background, and, but for such an initiative, they won't be able to cultivate a culture of reading.
Interestingly, the library is being made accessible to members of the public too. Though a small room has been earmarked for the library, the reading will take place al-fresco.
“We have a park on our campus. We have put up a shade sail to let children take their books and tablets outside to read,” says James Albert, the school principal.
The arrangement also applies to readers from outside the school.
“The playground on the campus is accessed by students from neighbouring schools to play tennis, cricket and football and practise kung fu . These children are accompanied by their parents and grandparents, who often sit idle and bored. While their wards play, they can take a book or a newspaper from the library, sit in our park, and read,” says Albert.
At present, the school is on a book collection drive.
"Around 400 books have been collected so far. Besides books, we are also looking for used laptops and tablets so that e-books could be made available,” says Albert.
Oli, an initiative to help the hearing-and-speech-impaired by providing them with vocational training, is helping the school collect books.
“We are looking for educational books such as Encyclopedias, dictionaries and picture-story books as well as novels such as those based on Nancy Drew and Harry Potter,” says Dheepika Rajan, an architect, who along Shriya Nagesh, an architect, founded Oli in 2017.
Projectors will be kept at the small room for screening films.
Books can be dropped off at C.S.I. Higher Secondary School for the Deaf on Santhome High Road, Mylapore, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Alternatively, they can be dropped off at Backyard at Adyar.
For details, call 9962061559, 9790854889 or 8861561854.
