PAATH Education Foundation

A library in a place that never had one.

PAATH Education Foundation builds libraries in government schools in rural India — the design, the interiors, the books and the launch — funded by companies through CSR.

Plan a library with us See the library we built in Sarog
The finished library in Sarog: wooden floor, full bookshelves along a teal wall, reading chairs and a chandelier
The SCHOTT Poonawalla Community Library, Sarog, Himachal Pradesh — opened March 2026.

A library is the quietest, most patient teacher a child will ever meet.

It does not raise its voice. It does not hurry. It simply waits. Most children in rural India will wait their whole lives and never meet one.

Paath (पाठ) is Sanskrit for a reading, a lesson, a passage.

Sarog, Himachal Pradesh: 45 days from a bare room to a library.

Our first library sits above a government school in Sarog, a village of 800 people. It serves the school by day and the whole village after school hours.

What we walked into

February 2026

A bare room above the school. Concrete floor, exposed wiring, a door that had never been hung.

The empty room before work began: bare concrete floor and loose wiring The empty room before work began: plain walls and bare windows

What we built

March 2026

Shelves, reading corners, lighting, flooring, wall graphics and 1,600 hand-picked books — the first library most of these children have ever walked into.

Finished library: full bookshelves, wooden tables and reading chairs Reading corner with yellow armchairs and a round table Bookshelf built in the shape of the word READ
45 daysfrom bare room to opening
1,600books, chosen title by title
110students and 20 teachers
800villagers, after school hours

Opened by the Education Minister, reported across the state.

The Himachal Pradesh Education Minister cutting the ribbon at the library door

Inaugurated

Hon. Rohit Thakur, Education Minister of Himachal Pradesh, opened the library on 22 March 2026, with MLA Kuldeep Singh Rathore (Theog).

Hindi newspaper report on the Sarog school library inauguration

Reported

Covered by the Times of India, Dainik Jagran, Amar Ujala, Himachal Dastak and other regional papers.

The SCHOTT Poonawalla Community Library board at the library entrance

Funded through CSR

A CSR project by SCHOTT Poonawalla, carrying their name as the SCHOTT Poonawalla Community Library.

Walk through the library.

Short films from Sarog. They play without sound.

The room before work began13 seconds
A walk through the finished library1 minute 25 seconds
The murals and reading corners41 seconds

One partner for the whole library.

You choose the school and the scale. We take it from an empty room to the opening day, and stay with it through the first year.

  • DesignA layout made for the room and the children who will use it, with zones for reading, browsing and study.
  • InteriorsShelving, tables and seating, flooring, lighting, wall painting and graphics.
  • Books1,500+ titles, each one hand-picked for the children of that school.
  • Your name on itThe library carries your company's name, with a board at the entrance.
  • LaunchAn opening day for the school and the village.
  • First yearSupport for the school through the first year after opening.

We are book people, not NGO people.

PAATH is the non-profit arm of Bookchor, founded in 2016 and now a 50-person team that has delivered millions of affordable books across India. We set PAATH up as a Section 8 company to put that decade of book knowledge to work for children who would otherwise grow up without a library.

We source books, we don't collect them
We buy and hand-pick every title rather than filling shelves with whatever is donated.
Better books on every shelf
Ten years of knowing what readers actually pick up means each library gets books children want to read.
One team, start to finish
Interiors, books, branding and launch are handled by one partner, not five vendors.
Open to the whole village
Every library is used by the school during the day and by the community after school hours.

140 libraries by 2029.

Each one built like Sarog. Each one in a place that has never had one.

Year 1
10libraries

6,000+ children

Year 2
40in total

24,000+ children

Year 3
140in total

84,000+ children

For large, multi-year commitments we can build up to 100 libraries in a single year.

Build the next one with us.

One library. One village. One generation of readers.

  1. A 30-minute conversation

    Tell us your CSR priorities, and we'll show where a library fits.

  2. A visit to Sarog

    In person or on a video call. See a finished library for yourself.

  3. A pilot library

    Designed with you: the location, the branding and how we report back.

Tell us about your plans

We reply within two working days.

We use these details only to reply to you. We do not share them.

PAATH is led by Meenal Sharma and Vidyut Sharma.