TRUTIYA RATNA · STORIES OF IMPACT
Community Libraries & Knowledge Centres
Leadership Development
Nandani Kumari: The First Girl in Her Family to Stay the Course
She learned to read at a free community library and knowledge centre in her village — and is now the first girl in her family determined to keep studying as far as she can.
Nandani Kumari comes from a small village in Jehanabad district, Bihar, from a poor Dalit family. Her father studied up to Class 9 and now works outside the village at a company; her mother, educated up to Class 8, manages the household. Nandani is due to sit her Bihar Board exam in 2027.
When Trutiya Ratna opened a community library and knowledge centre in her village, Nandani began attending — one of many SC, ST, and OBC children studying there for free, with all study materials also provided at no cost. As she learned, she gradually began helping the younger children who came after her, staying on as both a student and a supporting hand in running the same community library and knowledge centre.
The community library and knowledge centre has helped with practical costs too — school forms and related expenses that would otherwise have been difficult for her family to manage. She is the first girl in her family to want to stay connected to an organisation like this, in the hope of continuing her education as far as it will take her.
“I used to believe in superstition, untouchability, and discrimination, and I used to do poojas for them. After joining the community library and knowledge centre and reading about great reformers’ lives, I realised none of that was true — it was just an illusion in my mind, and it isn’t anymore.”
Nandani says her thinking, her behaviour, and the way she sees her own education have all changed a great deal since — though she’s still learning, and still trying to understand more deeply the many things society still holds onto.