Jammu: Rotary Club of Jammu City (RCJC), under its literacy project Rotary Book Bank, held a books distribution camp at Govt. Girls High School, Gandhi Nagar here today. In the Camp, books and other educational material like Water Bottles and School Bags etc. was distributed among a large section of students belonging to the marginalized sections of the society, free of cost.
Speaking on the occasion, Vishesh Paul Mahajan, Deputy Commissioner Excise, who was the Chief Guest, lauded the efforts of RCJC in mitigating the sufferings of the society through its unique initiatives. He said that he has been following the activities of RCJC for quite some time and is happy that there is at least a group of people in Jammu City who are thinking beyond their own narrow gains and selflessly serving the society at large.
Anil Swaraj, President, RCJC said that the prime motive of Rotary Book Bank is free collection and free of cost distribution of books among deserving students. Besides Rotarians, a large number of young student volunteers have already come forward to contribute by way of helping to collect books on Rotary Book Bank’s behalf. A special arrangement has also been made to pick the books on the request of donors from their schools/homes. The team of Rotary Club of Jammu City organizes Book Collection Stalls at the doorsteps of schools and colleges once the academic session is over. After segregation of gently used books, these are distributed among needy students immediately on the beginning of new academic session. The students can also visit the Resource Centre of Rotary Book Bank to deposit or collect books free of cost, he said.
Rtn. J.D.Singh, Secretary, RCJC said that it was felt by Rotary Club of Jammu City that a large number of school going children, who belong to poor families, have to shell out a substantial amount annually of the hard earned money of their parents to buy books and sometimes it becomes very difficult for them to afford this because of financial constraints. This eventually results into high dropout ratio. It was the endeavor of RCJC to help such students in continuing their studies.
Kiran Rajput, Headmaster, Govt. Girls High School, Gandhi Nagar, highlighted some other needs of her school and said “Rotary Club of Jammu City has taken care of most important item part of school i.e. books, which otherwise students have to arrange with great difficulty every year and although Government gives free books till 8th standard, yet lots of students remain deprived because of shortage of books under this scheme.
