Valapattanam Grama Panchayath Library, a rural, one-person public library in Kerala State in India, has helped hundreds of children to use their COVID-19 lockdown time creatively and productively.
In March 2020, a state-wide lockdown was announced in Kerala State and all schools closed, including three primary and three secondary schools in Valapattanam. School closures presented a huge challenge to both children and their parents, as parents were now in charge of managing their children’s learning.
With the Library closed, a librarian sought alternative solutions to serve the community. To help parents minimise their children’s distress due to the lockdown, the Library turned its previously planned children’s summer programme into a virtual platform and named it “Creative Homes – Defeat Covid”.
On the first day of the lockdown, the Library engaged 146 children in the ‘Children’s Forum’ project, through their parents’ WhatsApp accounts. Children were divided into smaller groups and were mentored by Library-assigned mentors who provided them with various activities in regular intervals, ranging from storytelling to painting, origami, and arts and crafts using recyclable materials. Along with these activities, students also got the chance to interact with writers and other important personalities. With the support of mentors, the children published an e-magazine called “Manju Thullikal” (Dew Drops), in which they included their poems, stories, memories, and other writings.
In each of the WhatsApp groups, children were asked to present their creations around a common topic. New topics to promote sustainable development and to develop children’s practical skills were introduced regularly, which resulted in World Water Day, International Children’s Book Day, International Health Day, and many more being virtually celebrated.
Even while kept indoors, children were making more new friends than ever before, with activities designed to ensure the participants interacted with each other. To keep the children engaged, after completion of each round, a winner group was selected and announced. “The platform has evolved into a virtual exhibition ground and dozens of works are exhibited there,” said Lallu Sasidharan, a Montessori teacher and one of the mentors. Under this initiative, 1,500 art works were created as of September 2020.
Librarian Binoy Mathew shared the impact of the program on the area’s children: “We reshaped our concept of a creative summer project using the mobile platform, to nurture the creativity and social interaction of young students during the lockdown, at the same time making sure that the use of cell phones was minimal. One day a parent called me and said, ‘You saved my kid’s life’”.
The project which began as a small WhatsApp group now consists of seven teams averaging 20-25 students each. The main group now has 222 children directly involved and more than 100 who are engaging indirectly. Even though in-school classes resumed June 1, 2020, the project is still actively running. Children’s Forum has started a news program called “News @ Kutty Views” broadcasting on the Library’s YouTube channel and Facebook every other day. Additionally, students have conducted several research projects such as examining the impact of lockdown on families, and students also interviewed their grandparents and narrated stories published in seven memory books in PDF format.
Parents expressed they were able to keep their children active and happy at home thanks to Creative Homes. This is a new experience where entertainment and knowledge-sharing takes place simultaneously, and it has helped improve children’s skills and talents.
