Building Libraries for Better Learning with SDG 4

While digital education is on the rise, many under-resourced schools in India still lack basic infrastructure like libraries. According to ASER 2023, only 43% of government schools in rural India have a functional library. That’s where CSR-led corporate volunteering can step in meaningfully.

What Office Volunteers Can Do for Education

In recent months, many Indian corporates have looked for fun, hands-on CSR activities that create visible impact. Building or setting up a library in a school can include:

• Sorting and labelling donated books
• Decorating reading corners
• Creating DIY storytelling kits
• Conducting read-aloud sessions
• Donating bookshelves or mats for reading zones

These activities are ideal for employee engagement while supporting SDG 4—Quality Education.

Why This Matters Now

The National Education Policy (NEP) highlights early reading as a foundation. Yet, thousands of schools are missing out on basic access to books. This makes library volunteering projects one of the easiest and most scalable CSR activities in India today.

• Over 10 crore schoolchildren in rural areas can benefit from access to well-maintained libraries.
• Studies show that children with access to libraries show up to 20% better literacy outcomes.

Easy CSR Win for HR and CSR Teams

If you're part of a company looking for employee volunteering ideas, CSR project opportunities, or NGO collaborations for SDG 4, this model is:

• Low-cost and scalable
• Customisable per employee group size
• Quantifiable impact for annual CSR reports

What Kind of Schools Can Benefit?

This works great for:

• Rural schools needing infrastructure
• Government or Zilla Parishad schools
• Tribal schools and PVTGs
• NGOs running after-school programs

You can even do a pan-India volunteering campaign, engaging your branches or teams across cities in one initiative.

Let’s Make Learning Fun Again

Books do more than inform. They build imagination, confidence, and curiosity in children. And all it takes from your team is a few hours of volunteering. ??

To make this happen, you can collaborate with an experienced organisation like Marpu Foundation NGO.

?? To learn more, visit www.marpu.org