Staff and readers at Nachiket's Ambika Nagar Anagha branch

Nachiket founder Asha Pawagi talks to students

A young reader at Nachiket Children's Libraries

Artwork done by readers at Nachiket Children's Libraries showing environmental stewardship

Why Libraries?

Access to a library is intertwined with the quality of education, one of the key issues of the 21st century. Educational inequality underlies most socio-economic-cultural problems including gender inequality. An encouraging literacy environment is crucial for every child's future, and access to a library is as important as universal primary education.

Reading is a foundational skill. “Right to Education”, guaranteed by the Indian Constitution, could only be achieved by accepting and instilling the right of every child to become a reader.

An encouraging literary environment is crucial for a child’s future. Only with easy access to interesting and engaging reading material, will children be able to achieve and sustain the complex literacy level demanded by today's rapidly changing, information-based world.

A Culture of Reading

In our reading program for infants to age five the mothers are also involved. This will help create a culture where children and their families read at home. This is groundbreaking in that it reaches mothers who have never been read to themselves to establish a culture of reading from birth. Study after study has shown that as mothers' literacy improves, the whole family's economic situation improves.

Community Benefits

Improved Literacy

Once a book is borrowed, not just the children but also the whole family and the neighbours read that book. Improved literacy leads to higher community engagement and better living standards.

A Nachiket staff member reading to children

Employment Opportunities

Nachiket employs full time staff from the local communities. Our local staff and volunteers are indispensable. To learn more about our wonderful employees click here.

Engaged Youth

The love of reading translates into a love for knowledge and improved performance in school. Children are winning competitions in schools, are publishing articles in Amravati newspaper, and are developing an appetite for information about the world.

Children receiving new reading materials at Nachiket

"Wachan Udbodhan"

Users of our libraries are taking the 'Idea of Reading' ('Wachan Udbodham') to smaller villages. Grade 9 readers have started holding parents/readers assemblies to raise awareness about reading. Librarians at Nachiket Library are also training grade 9 students to start story-telling programs for their own households and nearby residences. These students then spearheaded an initiative to bring books to their small villages in order to show their community how important books are. Nachiket Children's Libraries are striving to change the world one small library at a time.

Make a Difference

Buys a book

$50

Buys reference material

$100

Starts a new storytelling group

$1000

Opens a new branch

What we could accomplish with your support

Offer more activities

Offer move activities

At Nachiket we provide a multitude of opportunities for children to discover their talents and develop their potential. Activities such as drawing, painting, storytelling, dance, drama, readings by children's authors, reading out loud in groups, and writing workshops are routinely held.

Children's drawing of a library at Nachiket

Reach more villages

We would like to expand library services to various communities in exclusively tribal areas. Our step-by-step action plan is easy to implement and could be scaled up to have impact on tens of thousands more children across much larger rural and tribal areas of Amravati district. We believe that it is the right of all children to have access to reading materials.

Expand our book collection

We have an excellent selection of interesting and attractive books in every field. Some titles include A Century of Inventions, Individuals Who Shaped the Millennium, Hanna's Suitcase and Chandralok. Nachiket is helping children to learn about their surroundings and also make them aware of events around the world. Our readers are inspired by Raymond Carver and Helen Keller, captivated by space travels, and shocked by Hanna's Suitcase.

Nachiket library decorated with children's artwork

Establish well-equipped reading rooms

With your support we could establish reading rooms where children could find space to read, to work on school projects, to take a leisurely look at the display material, to interact with each other and to hold group activities.

We would also like to prepare educational DVDs and CDs similar to ones available at the Toronto Public Library.

Nachiket community members with computer

Acquire computers

Computer skills are essential in today's information economy. Computer literacy programs would allow the children to acquire the skills necessary for the jobs of tomorrow. We also hope that computers will increase the appeal of the libraries so that more children will seek out these environments of knowledge.

Nachiket staff member Ambika Nagar Anagha

Train more staff

We would like to provide training and hold workshops for a greater number of full time staff to keep them informed, inspired and motivated. We hold one-day seminars twice a year in Amravati, which all staff members attend. This gives them a forum to exchange ideas, discuss various issues, and generally learn from each other's experiences.

There is not such a cradle for democracy upon the earth as a free library.

– Andrew Carnegie