Students passing out of government schools in rural areas are often at a disadvantage, when compared to their urban counterparts. This is due to lack of amenities like online facilities, audio visual education and digital libraries. The alumni of one such school have decided to bridge the gap.
The alumni of the AP Residential School for Boys at Peda Boddepalli of Narsipatnam mandal in the district, who have come up the hard way in life, have established a digital library’ for the benefit of future generations, studying in their alma mater. They contributed ₹30 lakh for construction of the library building and purchase of computers and other equipment.
“In 2003, the first batch (1986) of SSC students from our school, along with their juniors, formed the Old Students Association and got it registered. We made it a point to organise a picnic on the second Sunday in December, every year, and enjoy the day, apart from discussing on doing something for our school,” recalls V. China Nookaraju, a.k.a Chanti,, a Senior Assistant in LIC at Narsipatnam, who belongs to the 1992 batch.
“We used to donate books, worth about ₹1 lakh, on Friendship Day, every year, to the top three rankers of each class (5th to 10th) to motivate the children to study hard and bring laurels to the school. About five years ago, Bandaru Ramachandra Rao, an Associate Professor of ENT, at the Government ENT Hospital in Visakhapatnam city, who belongs to the 1986 batch, I and a few others decided on setting up of the digital library, which would benefit all students.”
Says K.V. Appa Rao, an Assistant Manager in APSRTC and a former student: “The digital library will have short videos on the success stories of former students, who have become IAS and IPS officers, doctors and successful businessmen. It will inspire the present batches of students to think: ‘When a former student of my school can make it big, why can’t I’ ”?
“Though the foundation for the library was laid in December, 2019, the construction was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We will procure 20 computers, projectors and provide internet facility soon. Our association has around 2,500 members and we will ask each member to donate one good book, which will be of use to students,” Dr. Ramachandra Rao, current president of the association, said.
The digital library, christened ‘Vigyana Vahini’, will be inaugurated by Narsipatnam MLA Petla Umasankar Ganesh in the presence of District Collector A. Mallikarjuna on December 12.
Published - December 11, 2021 11:50 pm IST
