Posted On: 14 November, 2025

Students of Don Bosco Higher Secondary School in Polur town in Tiruvannamalai could now browse books through a library during their break time as the institution’s Kalvi Solai has opened the restored facility in the campus on Friday under its Butterfly Express initiative that aims to set up a library in village schools. School authorities said that the school in the agrarian Polur town is the second school to get a library under the initiative that encourages students to spend reading time in a library, apart from classroom learning. “The renovated library has more collections of books, both in Tamil and English, for students. The facility has been relocated to the ground floor of the new school building for easy accessibility for students,” Fr. Robert Abraham, headmaster, told The Hindu.

Rev. Fr. John Alexander, Vice-Provincial of the Salesian Province of Chennai and Patron of Butterfly Express, inaugurated the restored library in the campus in the presence of Dr. Jayakumar Reddy, pediatrician, Apollo Hospitals (Chennai) and Mano Solomon, Managing Director, 99 Km Coffee Group of Restaurants. In his inaugural address, Fr. Alexander said that the initiative was launched in September 2024 by starting a library in Gedilam village of Villupuram district. “The initiative is to help rural students to get access to books of various streams that can enrich their knowledge. It will also help them to be focussed on their studies and career than fiddling with mobile phones,” he said.

At the restored library, students can spend time in newspaper and magazine sections. English and Tamil books on various subjects like history, politics, law, economics, philosophy, agriculture, computer and mathematics are also available. It has around 3,500 books in its collection. Most of the books are donated by volunteers to encourage rural students to spend time in a library. To inculcate the habit of reading in a library, students will be allowed to spend at least an hour during school hours in a week at the library. Around 15-20 students can spend their time in the library at a time.

Lending of books to students will be initiated once patronage of reading in the library goes up. Every month, books in the library will be replaced with new topics to break monotony among readers. Students enlivened the celebration with cultural performances centered on reading, storytelling, and creativity. Fr. John Britto SDB, Director, Kalvi Solai, Fr. Francis Pinto, Rector and Correspondent, Don Bosco School in Polur were present on the occasion.