Helping exchange old school books

Deepkamal Kaur

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Jalandhar, March 22

As the new session is set to begin in most schools of the city, it is the time which becomes taxing for average families who have to pay up annual charges, fee and purchase books and uniforms among other things. But there are some organisations and Good Samaritans, who have been helping parents out partly by solving their problem by arranging second-hand books for free.

While several book shops in Mai Hiran Gate had been providing old books at nominal prices, some organisations and welfare societies are doing it for free.

The Red Cross Book Bank run by the district administration at Lajpat Nagar, too, has been doing this service for residents. Parents leave their children’s previous session books at the bank for donation and anyone needing these can check the availability with the office. Nek Ram, who handles the work, said: “We had started the service a few years ago and it became more popular during the pandemic. Many people are turning up to donate books. We remain open for service between 9 am and 5 pm. Our focus remains more on helping the needy students.”

Many parents are using WhatsApp groups and chatrooms, too, to facilitate the exchange of books. Ajay Chaudhary, a father to twins who have now entered Class VIII at Apeejay School, said: “Since I have two children, it becomes quite taxing buying two sets of books. For the past two years, I have been using a chatroom on Facebook page ‘NoticeBoard – Jalandhar by Tinu Luthra’ to contact any parent to give me used books. I also prefer taking notes and notebooks of the senior students as it helps the children. Overall, it also helps in saving and reusing the existing resources.”

Some school teachers at their own end, too, have been pitching in to help parents in exchanging old books. They urge parents to leave the books of the classes that their wards have passed out from and in return help them tie up with a parent of a senior class willing to donate books.