Znt. Libr. Rev. (1981) 13, 445449

School Libraries in Kerala

M. BAVAKUTTY*

In the matter of educational advancement, Kerala, the southernmost state of India has a unique position at the national level. Kerala is ahead of the other states in literacy, enrolment ratio, and proportion of public expenditure on education. The state spends about 40% of its budget for maintenance and development of educational facilities. A major portion of this, about 85% of the total expenditure on education, is utilized for primary and secondary education. There are 1503 secondary schools, 2639 upper primary schools and 7041 lower primary schools in the state.

The Secondary Education Commission (1954) appointed by the Govern- ment of India and headed by A. Lakshmanaswami Mudaliar made the following remarks in its report about the condition of school libraries in India: “The books are usually old, outdated, unsuitable and usually selected without reference to the students’ tastes and interests. They are stocked in a few book shelves which are housed in an inadequate and unattractive room. The person in charge is often a clerk or an in- different teacher who does this work on a part-time basis and has neither any love for books nor any knowledge of library techniques. Naturally, therefore, there is nothing like an imaginative and well planned library service which could inspire students to read and culti- vate in them a sincere love of books. What makes this situation particu- larly difficult is the fact that most teachers and headmasters and even educational administrators and administrative authorities do not realize how unsatisfactory this position is and therefore they have no sense of urgency in the matter.”

It is unfortunate to see that even 25 years after the publication of the valuable report of the Secondary Education Commission the condition of school libraries in India remains almost the same. The situation in

* Department of Library and Information Science, University of Calicut, Kerala, 673635, India.

OO20-7837/81/040445+05 $02.00/O 0 1981 Academic Press Inc. (London) Limited

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Kerala where literacy is maximum is also not very much different from the national scene.

All secondary schools and upper primary schools in Kerala have libraries. But the majority of them are not functioning in the best interest of the students and teachers. In lower primary schools from where the children have to develop the reading habit there are no libraries at all.

ADMINISTRATION

In the absence of a qualified full time librarian, a teacher, usually a language teacher, is entrusted with the charge of the school library. He functions under the overall control of the headmaster. The teacher librarian is exempted to a limit of five periods (each period is of 45 minutes duration) a week from teaching work. For the additional library work he also gets an honorarium of Rs. 20/- per month. The teacher librarian is not trained in librarianship. Therefore he is unable to render good library service. Further he can not, for obvious reasons devote his full time to this additional work.

There is no library committee in schools to plan and execute library policies. Therefore the headmaster himself takes decisions on matters connected with school libraries. Besides the general libraries, class-room libraries in charge of class teachers and subject libraries in charge of subject teachers are also functioning in some schools, particularly in Christian mission schools.

FINANCE

The sole source of finance for a school library is the library fee collected from the students. An amount of Rs. l/- and Rs. 2/- per year is levied from the students of upper primary classes and secondary school classes respectively. It is noticed that even this small amount is not fully utilized for the purchase of books and library materials in many schools. This is mainly due to lack of interest in libraries on the part of the headmasters and teachers. The additional allowance of Rs. 20/- to the teacher librarian is paid from the library fee collected.

BOOK COLLECTION

The school library collection varies very widely. Since there is an annual addition of books procured out of library fee collected from the students, the book collection increases regularly. In schools of long

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standing the collection exceeds 7000 with a good number of reference books, whereas in recently started secondary schools the book collection is less than 500. A major portion of the library collection is Malayalam fiction (Malayalam is the mother tongue of Keralites). Standard reference books and other important books required for study and teaching in schools are not seen to be adequately represented in the collection. The children’s literature is found to be completely neglected in most of the school libraries.

The headmasters are empowered to acquire books from the list approved by the Department of Education, Government of Kerala. They are also permitted to place order for any “useful books” which are not included in the list. Though the Department list includes a number of good books, they are not procured in most of the school libraries. It is found that 90% of the library fund is utilized for purchase of Malayalam fiction,

Proper book selection methods are not followed in schools. At the end of the financial year the headmaster visits certain book shops and just picks up a few books, even without verifying whether they are already available in the library. His anxiety always is to avoid the lapse of the library fund.

Periodical weeding out of the obsolete books and necessary replenish- ments are not attempted in school libraries.

TECHNICAL SERVICE

The school library collection is not properly classified and catalogued due to the absence of a qualified fulltime librarian. The teacher librarian is ignorant of modern classification schemes and cataloguing codes, as he is not trained in librarianship. Books are arranged subjectwise on the shelves. The only catalogue available is the hand written list of books arranged alphabetically by author under each subject.

LIBRARY SERVICES

A mere collection of books in a school can never be called a library. A good library should kindle the child’s curiosity and act as a fountain of knowledge. One of the primary functions of schooling is to generate in the students a spontaneous urge for learning. This implies that a student has to acquire the habit of reading which will ensure his continuous learning throughout life.

The present condition of school libraries in the state is not conducive to fulfilling this objective of education. The school library is kept open

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according to the convenience of the teacher librarian, that is, only when he is free from his teaching work. Thus the school library is functioning for only one or two hours a day. Even during this time students are not able to make use of the library since they are in the classrooms during school hours. Generally school libraries except in a few non-government schools where separate reading facilities are available, are not kept open to the students and teachers outside the school working hours. More- over the students are not allowed to choose books for themselves. In the beginning of the academic year the class teacher or student class leader receives a set of books from the teacher librarian and circulates them among the students in the class. This is the only library service the students receive from most of the schools. The few books given-most of them are Malayalam fiction-for circulation are not properly selected according to the tastes, interests and levels of the students. Because of all these factors the library use by students as well as by teachers is very meagre.

It is seen that no attempt is made to draw the attention of the students to the useful library books. In class time table no period is provided for library works. There is no practice of organizing book exhibitions and book displays and circulating lists of new books among the students and teachers in schools. These factors leads to improper use of books and libraries by the students and teachers in schools. .

SPACE AND FURNITURE

There is a glaring deficiency in providing proper accommodation for libraries as in most of the schools not even a separate room is provided. The school libraries are at present situated in office rooms, the head- master’s room or in the teachers’ room. Even in schools .where separate rooms are available for libraries proper reading facilities are not provided inside the library. The library furniture is very outmoded and inadequate. Even proper racks are not available to shelve the books.

CONCLUSION

The condition of school libraries even in the educationally developed state is far from satisfactory. The library professionals in the state are aware of this unfortunate state of affairs and the Kerala Library Association, the professional body of librarians in Kerala, makes repeated efforts to move the Government and the people to make necessary improvements. The Association organized a seminar to discuss the miserable condition of school libraries in Keraia and to find a

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solution to the problem. A good number of educational administrators like district education officers and assistant education officers, head- masters, teachers, teacher librarians and library science teachers participated in the seminar. Fifteen papers dealing with the present state of school libraries and suggestions for their improvement were presented. The group discussions that followed brought out many valid and realistic suggestions without much financial commitment, based on the practical experience of those working in the field. The recommen- dations of the seminar were presented to the State Government for necessary action. And it is good to note that the Government is taking a genuine interest in implementing the recommendations. As a first step the State Institute of Education, Kerala started organizing short term courses in librarianship for teacher librarians with the help of the three university libraries in the state. It is hoped that within a few years the condition of school libraries in the state will definitely improve to a great extent if the present interest of the Education Department on school libraries continues unabated.