Though there are many developmental initiatives in place, but very few reaches those who are in real needs. People living in the tea gardens of North Bengal have their own hardship, were both male and female members of the household works to earn their living. Children remains the most neglected part of the society and now with the restrictions of lockdown, they are finding it difficult to study as well as learning.
Engineer turned Social Researcher, Anirban Nandy along with his wife Poulomi Chaki Nandi, both Research fellows at IIT Kharagpur have formed “Live Life Happy” in 2019, and are trying to reach out to the students and people in needs in the tea gardens of North Bengal spread across 5 districts of Bengal using technology as bridge between people in rural areas with economic development.
Most of the villages are situated in Siliguri and Jalpaiguri area. They also focus on the living condition of the girls, who are deprived of normal standard of living and social rights including menstrual hygiene by distributing of sanitary pads as well as making them aware about the importance of hygiene.
Due to lack of awareness and financial resources rural students lag far behind of their urban counterparts. So Live Life Happy has set up a “mobile library” and with the help of various self-help groups are reaching out to the students in the tea gardens, providing free regular books.
Speaking to News Sense Anirban said, “We regularly collect these books from nearby town. We have a collection of over 5200 books right now which includes books for class VI-XII and books for NEET JEE Gate WBCS NET and other competitive examinations“.
They are not limited to distribution of books but to make best utilisation of the book through study, Anirban and his team has started “10 Taka Tuition” last August. Gradually the model worked and now they are able to build a system of providing education. Anirban also added, “Now we are giving classes with digital content and post lockdown and pandemic, community classes will be started to go with the syllabus as the students are failing to cope with the online learning methods like the city students“.
In the span of one year, the organisation has been able to reach out to the students located in 15 tea gardens which include, Merry View, Kiran Chandra, Gungaram, Hansqua, Matigara, Raipur, etc. along with over 28 villages connecting more than 1500 students through mobile library and 80% of the students are girls.
Mobile Library is making a silent revolution in the tea gardens of North Bengal, enlightening the lives of rural children with knowledge and education.
