December 16, 2021
Perumkulam, a village in Kerala’s Kollam district, has been declared as the ‘village of books’, making it the second such village in India. The village library transformation project has managed to place 10 ‘pusthaka koodu’, which are sloped-roof, house-shaped glass bookcases, across the district. The village, with a population of around 4,000 people, has access to these 10 pusthaka koodus, each of which has 30 to 50 books. The collection includes children’s literature, books for grown-ups and newspapers too. This exercise aims to inculcate the habit of reading in children and adults. After the first bookcase was installed, officials expected the books to remain unused, but they were pleased to notice that the books were being read.
