Pustak Bank: Investing in education of poor kids

Firmly holding her textbooks, Sapna, a high school student at the SB Singh Intermediate College in Prayagraj is all smiles. Sapna, an underprivileged girl from rural background, had been craving for textbooks for studies and preparation for examinations, finally got them from ‘Pustak Bank’.
Sapna is not alone to have benefitted by the facility. There are over 11,200 underprivileged students studying in different classes from primary to Class 12 in various government and private schools and colleges of Prayagraj, Pratapgarh and other districts who get textbooks, notebooks, revision papers, unsolved papers and study material free of cost by the volunteers of Pustak Bank.
Set up in 2016 by a primary school teacher, Alok, in a remote village of Pratapgarh district, the ‘Pushtak Bank’, known as ‘Kitab Wala Bank’ among rural children,is serving underprivileged students of Prayagraj region for the past seven years.
Be it primary teachers, social workers, educationists or NRIs, all are contributing to help children topursue their studies in rural pockets of the region. Every year, many students pass examinations and are provided with a new set of books.
‘Pustak Bank’ provides both new and old books to underprivileged children. Sharing the idea behind setting up the Pustak Bank, Alok said: “This initiative not only helps families and children who cannot afford books. It also ensures that children do not quit studies forthe want of books. ” Alok was joined by other volunteers, including Prachi, Arun Kumar, AK Singh, and Bhanu Pratap, who not only purchased new books but also arranged old ones from various sources to limit the wastage of paper and save books from going to scrap.
The facility is enabling children to expand their knowledge base and achieve their academic and career goals. “Once a student passes his or her class, she or he returns the books to Pustak Bank. If the syllabus is not changed, the books again help another child to study and prepare for examinations,” says Prachi.
“Although the government is providing free textbooks to children of state-run schools, students from poor families find it hard to afford notebooks, stationery, solved papers etc. , which are priced exorbitantly. Besides providing these, we also guide children on how to prepare for Board examinations and write answers to secure good marks,” another volunteer said.