IIT Palakkad hosted Human Library Event
On World Mental Health Day, IIT Palakkad hosted a Human Library event in collaboration with the Human Library Association Denmark and the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan Regional Coordinating Institute. The event featured 11 Human Books (viz., Autism, Differently Abled, Caste, Special Educator, Sound Engineer, Chronic illness, Albinism, Student Housing Scam, Grey-haired Woman Athlete, Head Injury, Father) with each book read by the maximum allowed six readers.
Dr Sudarshan R Kottai, Publication Partner of Human Library Organisation Denmark, emphasised that listening to these real voices fosters the compassion and empathy necessary to support sustainable mental health and build a fair and just world. This focus aligns with this year's official theme, "Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change," a message underscored by recent Honourable Supreme Court concerns about student well-being and institutional accountability on Indian higher-education campuses.
Dr Nikita Hari, Head of the Teaching, Research Design and Support Group in the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford and the inaugural Google Higher Education AI Fellow shared a video message for the Human Library IIT Palakkad on the importance of such initiatives. The wholehearted support of the Head of the Department and PhD students and PDF scholar of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Project Coordinator, UBA IITPKD, who acted as the librarians of the Human Library, was instrumental in the smooth execution of the event.
Video Message - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w7uBsVd3bz6sp-YlVHb34jctnlPKV_4S/view
