At Maha school, kids pluck books from tree

ENGAGING CHILDREN IN RED-HIT GADCHIROLI

- Abhishek Choudhari

In a remote village in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, a tree on the zilla parishad school's campus is bearing the most unlikely fruit. At Koyanguda ZP primary school, located in the Naxaliteinfested Bhamragarh taluka, storybooks are hung like fruits and kids eagerly look forward to 'plucking the best ones!

Vinit Padmawar, the teacher who planned and implemented this idea, said: “We call it the Pustkancha Jhaad (book tree). The sole purpose is to increase students' interest in reading and the best way to go about is to give them what they want. Hence, age-appropriate storybooks, which we received as donations, have been used."