S for Schools

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For most children, a library is just another room in school.
But for many students in rural Maharashtra, it was something they had never seen.

That simple reality changed the course of Chetan Pardeshi’s life.
Born and raised in Pune, Chetan began volunteering for social causes while still in school. As he travelled to villages during his college years, he noticed a common problem.

Government schools had classrooms and teachers, but very few had storybooks or libraries. Children learned only from textbooks, with little opportunity to read for pleasure or improve their language skills.

Instead of waiting for someone else to solve the problem, he started S for Schools in 2016 with a simple idea.
What if books could travel to children instead of children travelling to books?
He created a unique mobile library model, where each school receives around 50 carefully selected books. Every six months, the books are rotated to another school, ensuring that children always have something new to read without the need for large libraries or expensive infrastructure. Volunteers manage everything from collecting books to transporting them across villages.

What started with a single bookshelf has today grown into a movement reaching more than 150 government schools across Maharashtra.
The impact extends far beyond reading. Teachers have reported improved English vocabulary, greater confidence in speaking, better classroom participation and a genuine excitement for learning. For many first generation learners, these books have opened a world they had never imagined.

Chetan’s commitment to education goes beyond libraries. Through S for Schools, he has worked to bring school dropouts back into classrooms, supported students with books and stationery and conducted several educational and mentorship programmes in rural communities. According to the Government of India, the initiative has helped 1,940 children return to school, provided books and stationery to over 3,830 students, and established mobile libraries in schools,.

For Chetan, education is not just about helping children pass examinations. It is about giving them the confidence to dream beyond the boundaries of their village.

Today, Chetan Pardeshi’s work has touched thousands of young lives through books, mentorship and education. His contributions have also earned him a Prestigious National Youth Award from the Government of India in 2017-18 and recognition in a Guinness World Record for the Largest Adolescents Health Awareness Lesson. Yet, for someone who has spent years placing books into the hands of children, the greatest reward is not a record or an award—it is watching a child discover the joy of reading for the very first time.


References
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