WHAT WE DO

Libraries

Rochun: Pay It Forward has been fulfilling its major goal that is to make academic and other kinds of books accessible to students from every corner in Mizoram by establishing a library, enhancement of existing and dysfunctional libraries through donation of large number of books and electronic devices, and by providing offline computer software that consists of all the important academic and non-academic resources. All these ongoing and future projects are made possible through partnership and collaboration with other selfless organizations, interested parties, and individuals.

Chin Christian University (CCU) was founded in 1990, and it is the only university in Chin State, Myanmar to offer B.A. English and B.B.A. The University is open to diversity and its students and faculty are from different parts of the world. The University is the recipient of the book project of Rochun: Pay It Forward and its partner Book Aid International. The students come from varying family and cultural backgrounds, many of them coming from financially difficult families pursuing higher education through scholarships. Hence, the donated reading materials open up learning opportunities to its student body and community.

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Lawngtlai Government College is the only college in Lawngtlai district. The college was established in 1980 due to a high public demand for higher educational institutions. Even though the college has been standing for four decades, the college is still in need of educational resources especially high quality books that offer exceptional knowledge and outview to the students and the community. Hence, through Rochun: Pay It Forward in collaboration with Book Aid International, the college has received more than a thousand donated books, which proves to be a great milestone in the history of the college.

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This programme consists of several smaller projects. First, it is to provide computer literacy to all people from all age groups in this village in Jharkhand, India. In the computer literacy program, they are able to learn some useful computer skills and internet based applications ranging from booking train tickets to filling up online application forms. In order to pay electricity bills, villagers have to travel to the nearest city (Bokaro, which is around 30 km away) and wait in a long line to pay the utility bill. Intermittent bus services to and fro to the nearest city adds another layer of complexity and inconvenience for the villagers. Although electricity bills can be paid online, lack of information (due to low literacy rate) and limited internet connectivity create major barriers for villagers and restrict them from using online services. In this case, it is very important to train them how to use computer and the internet based applications as it is becoming a basic human right in this digital era.

Another project is providing leadership training to students and teachers of existing two schools of the village: Governmental High School and the Middle School. Quality of education in both schools are very low and both students and teachers are not very motivated towards education. As a result, dropout rate is very high particularly for class 8th and 9th students. Moreover, students who can finish till class 10th struggle to get admission in class 11th and 12th grades. Unsurprisingly, lower socio-economy condition and prevalent child-marriage play important roles in keeping students away from getting higher education. Education can be used as the most powerful tool to enhance the socio-economic conditions and empower villagers. In order to sensitize teachers and ignite passion for education among children, they are given training in the beginning. There are regular meetings every three month for all 50 mentors and mentees (40 students and 10 mentors) to discuss and assess the progress of the program. This works as a pilot project, and each step of the project is closely assessed and feedback is effectively integrated.

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(A) Lairam Higher Academy of Science (LAHAS) is the first higher secondary school for Science in Lawngtlai District, Mizoram. The school is run by Lairam Jesus Christ Baptish Church and is aiming to deliver quality education with resources such as library and computer science. However, educational and electronic resources are still lacking, which is a large setback for the full fledged development of the students. Therefore, to be among the many recipients of Labdoo projects through the help of Rochun: Pay It Forward is a dream come true for the school and its students.

(B) For the second time, LAHAS received over a thousand books from Rochun: Pay It Forward and Book Aid International. Even though the school has been standing for a long time, it still does not own a library. Hence, these high quality donated books are used to start up a library to provide learning opportunities and world level knowledge to the students, teachers, and the community.

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(A) Pentecost Mission School is a Christian mission school that consists of Nursery to Class-IV (Planning to extend) among the tribes of Adivasi and Santhali, which are mostly Hindu, and the level of education is extremely low among its population. The school has been running since 1996, and even though there have been considerable improvements, there are still rooms for improvement in English language skills and digital and internet fields. Receiving laptops from Labdoo help the students, teachers and the community in many ways. It helps the children to have a better tomorrow.

(B) Moreover, Pentecost Mission School is the recipient of the book donation project of Rochun: Pay It Forward and its partner Book Aid International. They have received hundreds of books, which is a big milestone for the students, teachers, and community as reading materials are extremely scarce in the region.

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(A) Bethel High School, Champhai, India is a public school, whose students are not from financially comfortable family background. It is the first time that the school owned a laptop. Rochun: Pay It Forward through its collaboration with Labdoo organization provided electronic resources to these children, who do not even own their own computers. This project aims at extending children’s opportunities of learning and gaining more knowledge through the dootronic provided by Labdoo and delivered by Rochun: Pay It Forward.

(B) For the second time, Bethel High School is the fortunate recipient of the projects Rochun: Pay It Forward and its partner Book Aid International receiving hundreds of books. The reading materials of the students are limited only to their textbooks. Since the school does not own a library, there is no chance that students find themselves engaging in useful books that will help their English language skills. Therefore, these books coming from UK are in great need of the school to start up their school library.

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Bawm is a minority ethnic group whose people are spread around in India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. Being a minority group, they face countless cases of marginalizations and discriminations because of the differences of their cultures and languages. Bawm Social Council has been striving and fighting for the human rights of Bawm people. Since they are still lacking resources to support them in their constant human right activities, hundreds of the reading materials donated to them by Rochun: Pay It Forward and Book Aid International are indeed a great and helpful resource that will provide them with wide conceptual knowledge and outlook.

(A) Through collaboration with Labdoo and Wedu and as her pilot project, Alinery Lalngilneii Lianhlawng, the founder of Rochun: Pay It Forward established Mangili Library in her hometown, Sangau, Mizoram, India. The library was integrated as one important organ of Blue Mountain Higher Secondary School in Sangau, which is the only higher secondary academic institution in that village town. However, the library is open for use to the students and teachers of other academic institutions in Sangau area.

Growing up in this community of underprivileged and remote region, Alinery remembers how she would collect papers for note-books in an exchange of spicy-salty water she herself made. When it was difficult to even buy exercise/note books, buying text books and novels was out of question. Till today, many students still use old secondhand books passed down from their older siblings and relatives. To stop and prevent future students struggling to access basic education and being stuck in poverty, this project introduced a library: a room to read with resources such as laptops and books needed by these students. The project also has a program called Critical Thinking class. The main focus of the academic curriculum is to foster English communication skills, critical thinking, problem-solving and strategies for life-long learning and leadership.

(B) Blue Mountain Higher Secondary School is where Mangil’s Library is located. Through the collaboration with Book Aid International, Rochun: Pay It Forward was again able to donate hundreds of books to this school. The reading materials prove to be a treasure to the school and the community. Books are rare in this region of India. Moreover, the school is not able to afford such books to buy and transport them to its obscure and far-flung school compound. Hence, the students, staff and the community are able to get access to world level reading materials.

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(A) This project, Extension of Mangil’s Library Project, aims to provide dootronics to Presbyterian English School, the middle school (Nursery to Class-VIII) at Tanhril in the outskirts of Aizawl, the capital city of Mizoram state in India. This school does not have access to the internet, and the only educational resource the school has is the course textbooks, which contributes almost none to increase their critical thinking skills and to help them find their goals and passion. Therefore, having the excellent electronic resources which can be provided by the Labdoo besides their present fixed course textbooks will show the students a path of self-realization of how they can become one person that brings positive changes to his/her society and the world.

(B) Presbyterian English School is managed and funded by the church. It is a mission school, which means the students are from poorer family background. The tuition fees and other fees are subsidized and even free according to the backstory of those students. However, the school does not have proper resources including academic and non-academic reading materials which can help the children improve their reading and writing skills, their knowledge in which careers they should follow and how, and their outview of the whole world. Hence, hundreds of books received from Rochun: Pay It Forward and Book Aid International greatly help the students to keep reading as their daily habit, enhance their knowledge, and guide them to find out and follow their passion and life goals that greatly contribute to their mental growth and development.

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Lungpher Phawngpui English Institute is the only secondary school in Lungpher village town. Since the age group of the students are in great need of physical and mental exercises. They are in need of developing knowledge, personality, language and communication skills. Therefore, the first hundreds of books provided to them by Rochun and Book Aid International for the start up of their school library are indeed a magnificent event and opportunity in the school history.

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WHAT WE DO

Libraries

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