A week before school starts up again in Milaan School (Swarachna Learning and Resource Center), teachers are participating in training with Sharat and Ananya. Starting early in the day, teachers gather for long, hot, and productive sessions on how they can be sources of inspiration in the coming year. The team has worked tirelessly with them to prepare to engage students in their studies.

On July 22nd, students will rush back into the Milaan School halls. The construction on the school will dwindle down once again, and teachers will prepare to embrace this new year with vigor and excitement. This year, thanks to our supporters, the school will open our library and our innovation lab to teachers and students alike.

In preparation for building our upcoming Milaan School Library, we asked our teachers to define what they think a library is. Being from rural areas themselves, the majority of our teachers have never stepped foot in a library. Their ideas of what a library is has been created through movies and stories. Those few that have been to a library have gone for purely academic purposes to find reference materials. Next month, once we’ve set up The Only Library in Kantain, we’ll ask again to see if their definitions have changed.

The following are their answers to ‘What is a Library?’

One teacher announced, “A Library is a museum which contains all types of books available for everyone.” Many noted that a library contains, “enlightening” and “helpful” books to “increase our knowledge and information.”

Mohamed Parvez, the primary school math teacher, said “A library is a place where there is a collection of different types of books, periodicals, and sometimes films and recorded music for people to read, borrow, or refer to”

Asha Rastogi, a social studies teacher, said, “A Library is a collection of books where intellectuals find resources to attain further knowledge.”

Amit, another social studies teacher, chimed in: “(A library) is place where we can receive books and newspapers which can give us more knowledge.

Another teacher responded, “A library is a place where we use books to solve our queries, find solution to our problems, entertain ourselves, and to increase our intellect.”

“A Library is important for me because it provides me with books to increase my knowledge of any subject that I want, which helps me in teaching without any difficulty.” said Ratish Mishra, the Sanskrit teacher for students in classes 6 – 12.

Finally, Surendra Kumar, a science teacher, had this to say about libraries, “A Library is a place where you can find books of different fields and subjects which can help you to find the knowledge of any field and subject while just staying in one place.”

For now, teachers mostly defined libraries as being a space that houses books. We’d like to expand upon that definition and create something that really challenges the community, students, and teachers to think critically and explore their imagination.

With one more week left to meet our goal, help us create this space by making a tax-deductible donation through Global Giving Here.

All content is created by Alyssa Newlon and Ananya Banerjee on behalf of Milaan Be The Change. For more information on the library or the work that Milaan is doing in Uttar Pradesh, please contact us at hello@milaanfoundation.org