How a visit to village inspired this Class 11 student from Hyderabad to launch ‘Stories on Wheels’

Ananya Polsani to launch ‘Stories on Wheels’, a mobile library that provides access to books and empowers rural students

Hyderabad: A chance vacation to Kodurupaka village, Karimnagar district has inspired a Class 11 student from Hyderabad, Ananya Polsani to launch ‘Stories on Wheels’, a mobile library that provides access to books and empowers rural students from government schools.

The library has a large collection of books that can be accessed by students whenever the mobile library visits their schools in rural areas.

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The idea of helping rural students with the necessary resources happened when Ananya visited her grandparents. Ananya’s grandfather suggested her to visit the local government school while she was at their place.

During interaction with students and teaching staff, Ananya felt that a lot can be done to enrich the existing potential of students.

The students had immense potential and a lot of aspirations, which made her think of ways to add quality to their lives and evoked a strong feeling of doing something which would benefit them.

“While travelling back to Hyderabad, this idea of building a library for students in rural Telangana came to me,” Ananya, who is in Class 11 at Chirec public school, says. The enterprising youngster acquired a used ambulance, books, sports equipment from donors, and laptops with internet connectivity from a few tech companies and through crowdfunding transformed the interiors and exteriors of the ambulance into a mobile book van.

The young girl says that she aims to continue contributing to society. “I am aiming to provide required resources that would help rural students to pursue other interests apart from studies such as sports, literary activities and e-learning under the same roof,” she said.