Building a culture of reading at the last mile

This article is authored by Shubhangi Sohoni, assistant general manager, programme monitoring and education, Ambuja Foundation.

At the entrance to a gurudwara in Bathinda, Punjab, a small community library invites worshippers to do something simple: pick up a book and read. It is an unlikely place for a library. But perhaps that is precisely the point.

Books

If we want children, and indeed adults, to become readers, books cannot belong only in classrooms. They need to be part of everyday community life — visible, accessible and within easy reach.

Across rural India, that remains a challenge. For many children, school may be the only place where they regularly encounter books. There may be few books at home, no library nearby and limited opportunities to read simply for pleasure.

The latest ASER data offers both encouragement and a reminder of the work still ahead. In rural India, 48.8% of children in Standard V could read a Standard II-level text in 2024, up from 42.8% in 2022. The improvement is significant. But it also means that more than half of Standard V children were still unable to read at that level.

These numbers tell us where the gap remains. But they also point to another challenge: once children learn to read, how do we enable them to keep on reading?

Reading is a skill that grows with practice. Daily reading builds fluency, vocabulary and comprehension, helping children learn across subjects. But books also do something more. They introduce children to people, places and ideas beyond their immediate surroundings. They spark curiosity, imagination and the confidence to think along with improving IQ as well as EQ levels which supports overall improvement.

For this to happen, children need opportunities to read beyond the school timetable. They need books they can choose for themselves. Stories they can enjoy. Spaces where they can read, listen, discuss and share. And adults who encourage them to keep going.

This is why community libraries and learning spaces can play such an important role, particularly in rural and underserved communities. A library does not have to be elaborate. It can be a room in a school, a community centre, a bag full of books— or even a small reading space at the entrance of a religious place or panchayat office.

But books alone do not create readers. People do. Community volunteers can help bring these spaces to life — organising reading groups, reading aloud to younger children, helping those who are struggling and encouraging children to explore books for themselves. Because they are part of the community, they can take reading beyond a formal lesson and make it a shared, everyday activity.

What matters is that books are accessible and someone is there to open them up to children. Schools and teachers remain fundamental to building foundational literacy. But schools cannot do it alone.

If we want reading to become a habit, communities need to help create an environment where reading is normal. Where a child can reach for a book as easily as they reach for a game. Where parents and adults encourage reading. Where libraries are welcoming spaces rather than locked rooms. Where books travel beyond school walls and into the places where people live, gather and work.

This requires sustained investment — in community and mobile libraries, relevant books, engaging reading spaces and local volunteers who can help build a culture of reading around them.

It also requires us to think differently about literacy itself. The goal is not simply to help children decode words on a page, but to help them discover the pleasure and possibility that reading can open up.

Because the goal should not simply be to improve a child’s reading score. It should be to help create a generation that reads — regularly, willingly and with curiosity. Literacy does not end when a child learns to read. It begins there.

(The views expressed are personal)

This article is authored by Shubhangi Sohoni, assistant general manager, programme monitoring and education, Ambuja Foundation.