Food for thought: This organisation is bringing books to remote corners of India

A young girl in a remote government school was holding a book from her school library. In no time tears started coming down her face as she read the story of Cinderella. Noticing the girl, Madhavi Sharma went to inquire about the reason behind her sadness.

While sobbing, the child whispered, "I had no idea that this kind of dress exists,” and all Sharma felt was a profound realisation.”

"That is the power of books. At that moment I knew I was on the right path. By providing these children with a medium to connect with the world and explore, was opening doors to dreams they never knew they could have,” she tells SocialStory.

Sharma, along with her brother K.Srinivas Rao and his wife Shefali Rao, started the Food4thought Foundation. It is a Hyderabad-based organisation, founded in 2015, which aims to foster reading habits by establishing libraries across India. The foundation has so far set up 622 libraries at government schools, hospitals, and prisons.

“There is a large section of the population that does not have access to books while many books lie unused and idle. Access to books and reading material, in English and vernacular mediums along with active reading spaces is necessary to enhance the knowledge base of the people and keep them informed. So our goal is to create an enlightened nation by simply fostering reading habits,” Sharma says.

Harsh reality

Sharma elucidates that most government schools lack the concept of a library and do not have the infrastructure to support a reading room.

As a result when these children move to urban areas for education, they often struggle to cope with the new environment because they haven't been exposed to enough reading.

Sharma believes that books not only broaden their knowledge but also enhance their language skills, critical thinking, and creativity. It builds confidence which can help these children in navigating diverse settings.

Additionally, she acknowledges that many students drop out from schools in rural areas.

“In such cases these kinds of students at least have access to a wide array of books which they can read and educate themselves,” she adds.

Also Read

This non-profit is using games to promote nutrition, healthy habits in children

The burning desire

Sharma believes that her love for reading, which began in her childhood and continues to this day, plays a major role in her current efforts.

Calling her dad her inspiration, she says that he wanted to pursue BSc, but since her grandfather could not afford the books, he did a BCom using his brother's books.

“Since childhood, he always taught us to offer their extra books to people who could not access them,” she adds.

Sharma who worked with various schools and colleges, crafting their programmes and curriculums for 15 years, wanted to quit and do something different in 2015.

Before leaving her job, she spent a lot of time thinking about what to do next. Her life came full circle when she decided to build an organisation that connects people who have books just sitting on their shelves with school libraries that need them.

This led her to start the Food4thought Foundation.

In 2015, Anuradha Addla, Principal of MPPS Shamshiguda first heard about the Food4Thought Foundation’s interest in opening up a library in her school. Located in a remote area in Telangana, the school had a small library before but Addla shares that it had a handful of Telugu books. Since many parents wanted their children to read English, this opportunity was all the school needed. Now the school has various kinds of books including rhymes, picture stories and more.

“We have a reading period every day. I have seen children eagerly waiting for this class. Moreover, this initiative has been immensely helpful in enhancing these children’s knowledge, language, and how they interact with each other,” Addla shares with SocialStory.

Although Sharma acknowledges that challenges are an indispensable part of driving change, she highlights that raising funds has been one of the biggest obstacles in her journey so far.

“You cannot show impact in one year. So the corporates have to stick around for a long time. So this definitely is a challenge for raising funds.”

Also Read

A jute startup for inmates: An entrepreneur’s mission to provide dignity behind bars

Serving food for thought

The organisation has set up libraries in schools across India, including 250 in Bengaluru, 165 in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, 57 in Gujarat, 56 in the North East, and more.

Out of the 622 libraries, there are 557 school libraries and 65 community libraries in spaces like prisons, vocational center, eye care center, village community center, and gated communities in Hyderabad.

The organisation offers different levels of books. Level one contains books with a large picture and one or two lines of text. Level two includes a half-page picture with three to four lines of text. Level three has a smaller picture with up to 12 lines of text. Level four consists of novels or books with few or no pictures. Books are distributed based on the student's reading levels.

However, she adds that the organisation sends around 25 books of level three and four so that interested students can read. The organisation has counselling sessions with the principals every month.

Each class has monitors who record the number of students and the books read. This data is then shared with the organisation.

“They also inform us about the number of library periods they have and in case if the frequency is once in three months or less then we reach out to the principal to understand their challenges,” Sharma adds.

The organisation has tied up with the National Book Trust who provides them with books in vernacular languages.

“We also send a dictionary in the regional language so that if the students are having a problem understanding any word in English they can refer to the dictionary,” Sharma adds.

The foundation also hosts competitions such as the Reading Olympiad for rural areas. For the urban spaces they organise the Reading Decathlon where selected children from certain schools are given a list of books to read in advance, based on which a quiz is conducted.

The organisation has reached out to 70,500 readers till date and have received books from about 425 donors. So far they have received funds from five corporates.

The organisation also awards people who are making efforts to promote reading. Additionally, the "Save Endangered Stories'' project focuses on recording and preserving endangered stories and folktales. The organisation has 501 stories in eight languages available on its YouTube channel.

Looking ahead, Sharma says the organisation plans to continue its current work while expanding its presence. In the coming years, they aim to set up libraries in outpatient departments (OPDs) of hospitals, cafes and 50 libraries in Central Jails.

“We want every village house to read books. We start from schools and plan to slowly engage the community so that everyone knows how to read,” she shares.