The School Library: A Reading Den
If an ‘office’ is the heart of an institution, a ‘library’ is its powerhouse. It is in a library that knowledge is stored in the form of books, novels, magazines, newspapers and periodicals. In St. Paul’s, the library is housed in a spacious room, with plenty of light and fresh air, opposite the Principal’s office in the administrative block. The library unlike other rooms in the school has an appealing ambiance. It has an identity and grace of its own. It lures you and tempts you to take a look, then you take a book, and then you keep coming back for more. When you enter our school library you can be sure and certain that you will never leave the place empty handed. You walk out wiser, enlightened and determined to complete the book you set out to read.
The library serves as the office for all the examination activities in the school, be it the four formative assessment tests, two summative assessments or the re-examinations of students. Some of the Staff meetings, Parent Teacher Association Meetings, Meeting of the School Cabinet and Felicitations are held in the library. The library is also used by the D.Ed students when they are deputed in St. Paul’s during their training period to gain teaching experience.
The Librarian, Mr. Deepak Pillay says “I would give away anything to watch a child stand in the centre of the library with awe, admiration and dumbstruck when he sees the wonderful books around him.” It is wonderful that many young boys, even in this age and time of Google and the Internet, are showing keen interest in reading and borrowing books from the library. Some of the boys even come back after a few days and say “Sir, it was an interesting book”.
During yester-years, many would remember our previous librarians, Rev. Fr. Desmond Saldanha SJ and later Mr. Sham Kadam. One interesting quote of Fr. Saldanha, which is fondly remembered even today, is – “Do not curse the darkness, but light a candle and share its light with others, that they too may see.”
Borrowing and exchange of books in the school library takes place daily during the lunch break and from 03:10 PM to 03:30 PM. Rev. Fr. Principal encourages the students to use the library as often as possible. Every year a large sum of money is set aside to buy new story books and novels which are kept in the library. It is a new trend in our school to give story books and novels as prizes. This further encourages our students to take keen interest in reading.
They say there is no end to learning, how true! Learning is continuous process and reading is a never-ending way of gaining knowledge.
The management of St. Paul’s requests the parents and teachers to encourage their wards to read. Just a few questions like “What book are you reading this week?” “What is the story about?” “Do you read the daily newspaper?” “Which is your favourite section?” Such questions from parents and teachers would further encourage the boys to take up a little more reading as it has come from their teacher, and we know that ‘the words spoken by their teacher is like Gospel Truth to the student’.