About Us

Books for All came into being quite by chance but the thought behind it had been churning for a long time! As Pravin Bhasin neared his retirement, the urge to do something for the society became even stronger. This thought process coincided with election time in 2009, when he went to collect his voter ID Card from a Government Primary School located in an urban ‘ Gejha’ village behind Sector 93 NOIDA. He got talking to the teacher in-charge and she requested him to donate dhurries for students to sit on during the winter months. The urge to do something concrete for the children at the Gejha school lingered on with him even after the dhurries had been given. As luck would have it, he was fortunate to connect with likeminded people.

BFA was born of the idea to collect children’s books from more affluent neighbourhoods and make them available at a library center at the Gejha Government school which could be accessed by the children of the school. With the objective in place, once the initial team of volunteers came forth, one room at the Gejha school was converted into a basic library equipped with white board, soft board, chairs, durries and books. The intent was to create a space, to which the children would be attracted to come and browse and read story books. 

Initially the library was run with the funds put together by the volunteers themselves. After a year of managing the library with the volunteers’ own funds, Books for All (BFA) was registered as a Public Charitable Trust on 10th February 2011.

Volunteer speak

“Start Small – If we keep waiting for the day when our efforts will be able to reach out to a large cross section and have manifold effects, we will probably just keep waiting….”

Library cum Creativity Centres

On 30 January 2010, with support of the school management, BFA team inaugurated the first centre at ‘Rajkiya Prathmik Vidyalaya’ (Government Primary School) at Gejha Village, NOIDA in the presence of the village Pradhan. Volunteers started to visit the library regularly and soon the ‘library’ became not just a reading centre but a hub of activities with art, craft, dance and drama bringing out the creativity and talent in the children and spreading joy!

As help started coming in, BFA opened more such centers. The first Library became the model for future Libraries, which is a Sustainable, Replicable & Scalable model. We decided to keep our operations simple & low cost to reach out to maximum children

Today BFA has 6 Library cum Creativity Centers and caters to over 2000 students. We have Library cum Creativity Centres in the following 6 schools in urban villages of NCR.:

  1. Government Primary School, Village Gejha, Noida
  2. Sarvodaya Vidya Mandir, Village Sadarpur, Noida
  3. Government Primary & Junior School, Village Sultanpur, Noida
  4. Government Primary School, Bhangel, Dadri Road, Noida
  5. Green Valley Modern School (GVMS), village Sultanpur, Noida
  6. National Education Mission Public School (NEMP), Village Gejha, Noida

These schools cater to poor children, most of them first generation learners. Their parents are mostly migrants from from Eastern UP, Bengal, Orissa & Bihar. They are daily wage earners or own petty stalls selling Tea or Vegetables etc or have jobs paying meagre wages.

II        Sponsored Students

Books for All has sponsored the education of 11 bright children (including 3 girls) to an English medium school and 8 girls to a good Hindi medium school. We also coach and mentor them so that they develop them into well rounded individuals.

III       Career Counselling & Vocational Training:

This is BFA’s latest project. Many students, who are are first generation learners from poor families, have no idea of what to do after class 12. With little or no parental guidance, they end up pursuing degree courses which do not make them employable or drop out to take up unskilled or semi skilled jobs. BFA counsels students of Inter-colleges in Noida about careers and vocational courses that will provide them with skills and can make them employable. BFA helps students with admissions to selected institutes and mentors them till they complete the course and find employment. BFA trainers also impart soft skills to increase their confidence, communication skills and awareness of the world around them.

Objectives

“To ignite the Flame of Knowledge and Nurture talent of children in Schools in underprivileged localities”

  1. Encourage children to read and to express themselves fearlessly.
  2. Nudge them to discover the world around them through story books and find joy in reading.
  3. Expose children to new ideas and concepts though volunteer engagement, workshops and programs by NGOs and Corporates. Increase their knowledge and general awareness.
  4. Help children discover their talents through art, craft, music and dance and various other activities in the Library cum Creativity Centres. Give them a platform to express themselves creatively.
  5. Instill confidence, discipline and good values.
  6. Guide children towards a better future.
  7. Sponsor education of bright children to change the course of their lives.
  8. Career Counselling, Soft Skills training, Digital Literacy and Vocational Training leading to employment of students of High Schools and Higher Secondary Schools
  9. Encourage volunteerism particularly in young people.