'Camel Library project': How Roshan the camel is helping kids in rural Balochistan study from home

'Camel Library project': How Roshan the camel is helping kids in rural Balochistan study from home

FPJ Web DeskUpdated: Wednesday, May 05, 2021, 03:25 PM IST
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Children stand next to a camel that brought books in Mand, Pakistan. | Reuters photo

We have all been at the receiving end of those never-ending stories by our parents about all the calamities and demons they countered to reach school. Well, we have a better story for you.

Due to this raging Coronavirus pandemic, children across the world have taken to online classes. But those who cannot afford the latest technology are left behind.

In Pakistan, the COVID-19 pandemic has left around 50 million school-age children and university students continuing their education at home. Needless to say, this has affected the studies of children living in places like Balochistan, where many villages don't even have internet access.

However, Roshan the camel in remote southwest Pakistan makes sure that children around it keep studying even at home. Roshan carries books for children who can no longer go to school because of coronavirus lockdowns.

As per the news agency Reuters, Roshan carries the books to four villages in the Kech district. It visits each village three times a week, spending two hours at each place. Children borrow books and return them the next time Roshan visits.

Reuters informs that Raheema Jalal, a high school principal founded the 'Camel Library project' with her sister, a federal minister. Jalal says that she started the library in August 2020, because she wanted children around her hometown to continue learning even when the pandemic kept the schools closed.

The project is a collaboration with the Female Education Trust and Alif Laila Book Bus Society, two NGOs that have been running children's library projects in Pakistan for 36 years.

Jalal hopes to expand the project and cover more villages but needs funding: around $118 a month is needed for Roshan.

Balochistan takes up approximately half of Pakistan's area, but the scantily populated province remains the country's most impoverished.

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