Priceless gift awaits students at the heart of the city

Kolkata, Mar 28 (UNI) This depository for books was built half a century back with a vision for serving the students. Today it stands unattended as a silent frame of apathy.

The Day Students' Home for Girls' at 147 A, Rashbehari Avenue, in the heart of bustling South Kolkata, is a library with a store of more than 26,000 books. Inaugurated on July one, 1956, the library was meant to cater to students.

With many colleges around the same area, the library should have been a students' paradise. However, very few students are aware of its existence.

This government-library has books from the course curriculum of all UG and PG subjects as well as professional courses such as medical and engineering. The library also houses books and magazines that help students prepare for different competitive examinations.

Speaking on the membership, President of the Home Shambhu Kundu told UNI, ''Any student can be a member for Re one. We have a large library with over 26,000 books, including books from all subjects taught in various universities in West Bengal.'' Apart from the library, the institute holds remedial classes on various subjects - journalism, political science and botany.

Eminent lecturers from respective fields are invited, who offer guidance to students for free.

The Home also offers free weekly classes in Communicative English for the members of the library.

The Home offers students a friendly environment to study and interact with teachers from different colleges in Kolkata. They even get food at a as rate low as Rs four.

Yet, very few students visit the library.

A student of Charuchandra College, Suchandra Mukherjee, who is a member here admits, ''There are more books here than in our college and we can even chose the books from the racks to see if we need them before we issue them. We do not have to go through a complicated catalogue, not knowing wheher it has anything useful or not.'' A Deshbandhu College student Lakshmi Pal, who lives in a hostel said, ''It is difficult for me since I have to live on my own and manage my own finances. This library gives me all the benefits of a tutorial without having to pay so much, as well as I can attend other courses that I could not have afforded otherwise.'' Students from Muralidhar Girls' College, Charuchandra College, South City College, Deshbandhu College and many other South Kolkata colleges find this institute more valuable than any other library in their college or otherwise.

On asking the president of the Home on why students are so few despite its best facilites, interestingly he said, ''I admit our Home did not do enough to promote its services, however, I also feel there is an increasing lack of enthusiasm among students these days.'' The Home plans to digitise the library in the future and is contemplating the development of a career counselling corner for the members here.

Built on a large plot of land, this organisation has everything from a congenial atmosphere to good books and magazines, professional guidance for students from all fields and a canteen to provide refreshments for students when they feel hungry and tired.

UNI