Child Literature in India : Problem of Awareness and Access
Child Literature in India : Problem of Awareness and Access
Education system of India is quite complex. There are so many parallel systems going on in the country it is hard to understand which represents the true Indian education system.On one hand there are International Schools in big cities and metros with luxuries infrastructure and international curriculum and on the other hand there are remote government schools where one teacher is handling 5 classes alone in a poor infrastructure conditions. Moving ahead in this article it is important to understand that around 65% of students in India are studying in government schools. Quality of our education system is questionable since independence. Mere focus on rote learning and job oriented study are the biggest challenges we are facing in our schools.
After the introduction of universalization in education in 90s our governments and NGOs started taking this issue seriously. Different programs were executed to improve the quality of education in government schools. This helped the system to connect to the new understanding and approach of education in a global world. Idea such as fearless environment and child centered teaching started dominating the discourse in government schools. Out of many innovations introduced in government schools, one was the effective use of child literature for students' learning. All the elementary schools were provided with children books to establish a small library. Because these initiatives were under the monitoring of international NGO, high quality children books were developed and distributed. But students' accessibility for these books still remained a problem due to teachers' problematic perspectives and attitude. Still a good number of teachers in the system understood the importance of good child literature and used it effectively for students' benefit.
While government schools were getting familiar with innovations related to children literature in education, on the other hand private schools completely missed the idea. They remained focused on preparing students for IITs, IIMs, MBBS institutes, government jobs etc. This complete ignorance towards child literature resulted in lack of awareness in the parents too. These days middle class parents who are spending good amount in their children's education have no idea about how important child literature is. There are very few who understand that good quality children books are very important to not only improve child's academic performance but also developing other important cognitive abilities like imagination, creativity, language skills, analytical abilities and moral values.
For such aware parents accessibility of good child literature is another major challenge. This challenge has four major elements. First - there are very good publishers in India which are producing quality child literature. Second - due to funds issues such publishers are not able to spend on advertisement, so people don't know them. Third - in absence of any experience and guidance, finding out best suitable age appropriate book for the child is very difficult. Four - most of the popular children books are very costly (around Rs. 200 to Rs. 300 per book).
Western countries have figured out a brilliant solution for such problems. There are multiple book subscription boxes available in market where you just have to choose your child's age and subscription plan and every month 2-3 books will get delivered to your door step. Almost every parent there are buying these subscription book boxes. Recently in India a similar kind of startup - Tiggibox has started its services. Tiggibox contains 3-4 handpicked quality children books according to the child's age with some exiting goodies. Good thing about this subscription box is that it is specially designed for Indian context in both Hindi and English languages. These books are mix of different flavors containing fiction and non-fiction stories, beautiful illustrations, puzzles and adventurous-educational activities. This has been introduced in very affordable price of Rs. 335* per box every month. "Initial response is quite encouraging and we are planning to expand in this coming year." - says Tiggibox Founder Dr. Sunita Sharma.
Here is the link to the website : www.tiggibox.com
While government schools were getting familiar with innovations related to children literature in education, on the other hand private schools completely missed the idea. They remained focused on preparing students for IITs, IIMs, MBBS institutes, government jobs etc. This complete ignorance towards child literature resulted in lack of awareness in the parents too. These days middle class parents who are spending good amount in their children's education have no idea about how important child literature is. There are very few who understand that good quality children books are very important to not only improve child's academic performance but also developing other important cognitive abilities like imagination, creativity, language skills, analytical abilities and moral values.
For such aware parents accessibility of good child literature is another major challenge. This challenge has four major elements. First - there are very good publishers in India which are producing quality child literature. Second - due to funds issues such publishers are not able to spend on advertisement, so people don't know them. Third - in absence of any experience and guidance, finding out best suitable age appropriate book for the child is very difficult. Four - most of the popular children books are very costly (around Rs. 200 to Rs. 300 per book).
Western countries have figured out a brilliant solution for such problems. There are multiple book subscription boxes available in market where you just have to choose your child's age and subscription plan and every month 2-3 books will get delivered to your door step. Almost every parent there are buying these subscription book boxes. Recently in India a similar kind of startup - Tiggibox has started its services. Tiggibox contains 3-4 handpicked quality children books according to the child's age with some exiting goodies. Good thing about this subscription box is that it is specially designed for Indian context in both Hindi and English languages. These books are mix of different flavors containing fiction and non-fiction stories, beautiful illustrations, puzzles and adventurous-educational activities. This has been introduced in very affordable price of Rs. 335* per box every month. "Initial response is quite encouraging and we are planning to expand in this coming year." - says Tiggibox Founder Dr. Sunita Sharma.
Here is the link to the website : www.tiggibox.com
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