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Tamil Nadu
He makes sure that books reach children
J. Lokesh
J. Lokesh works to provide access to low-cost educational material for children. He straddles the responsibilities of ensuring that the book project is self-sustaining and that the publications are affordable. He speaks to Kannal Achuthan about the joys and challenges in putting creative writing within the reach of children across the State.
Lokesh’s tiny office is a riot of colour. Books, pamphlets and flash cards, all brightly illustrated, are stacked on shelves or arranged in boxes. Each publication contains educational material presented in a fun and creative manner for children.
Lokesh is the coordinator of the books division of Eureka Child, an educational initiative of voluntary organisation AID India.
At 23, he has already learnt to balance the business and social aspects of the children’s book programme. The creative content for the books comes from experts in the Eureka Child initiative (phone: 28111248). Lokesh and his team are the people who make sure the books reach the children.
“Children should be able to buy the books themselves when we hold exhibitions in schools. So some of our books are priced at just Rs.5 each,” he says. Both Tamil and bilingual (English and Tamil) books are available.
Some of them are storybooks while others are fact-filled yet fun Science books.
Initially, Lokesh wanted to pursue the model of pricing the books high and using the proceeds to help less privileged children. But, his mentor Balaji Sampath, one of the founders of AID India, encouraged him to make the books affordable for the people who really stood to benefit.
Lokesh himself comes from a family of modest means. He took up small part-time jobs while pursuing classes XI and XII and began working as an office attendant after school.
He later joined Eureka Child, gave evening tuitions to children in slums and helped with the marketing of rural crafts. He now heads a small team that works to market the low cost books, and is pursuing an MBA correspondence programme.
“We could give the books free… But, it could end up being a one-time effort. By selling the books, we can make sure that there are funds to produce new sets,” says Lokesh.
Inspiration to continue the good work comes from many places.
Lokesh is full of admiration for Devi, a physically-challenged team member, who markets the books in government schools in Tiruvannamalai.
He is also happy when children and teachers enjoy learning with the flash cards and bilingual storybooks.
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