An Assam couple has showered their savings on a school that changed their lives.
S.M. Firoj Laskar had studied at the State-run 1017 Dakshin Mohanpur L.P. School in southern Assam’s Cachar district. He is now a cluster resource centre coordinator under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
His wife Lakhi Laskar is not a past pupil of the school in a remote part of the district. But she happens to be its headmistress.
The connection had given a message to Mr. Laskar – that he should give back to the school that moulded him into what he is today. It helped that his wife was attached to the school that has helped augment the family income.
The couple started by giving the school kitchen a new, hygienic look, followed by a rainwater harvesting and water conservation system around a hand-pump on the premises.
Street library
More than a week ago, they set up a street library on the boundary wall of the school designed to cater to the children as well as any passer-by interested in reading. They donated some of their books and bought a few that children would find attractive enough to read.
Cachar’s Deputy Commissioner Keerthi Jalli said, “It is very rare for government officials to spend money out of their own pocket for some public good. The fact that Firoj Laskar goes out of his way to spend money on innovative things for the school is highly appreciable”.
Mr. Laskar got in touch with her in April to know about the Jal Surakshar Prokolpo (water conservation project) she had initiated as the Deputy Commissioner of the adjoining Hailakandi district earlier, she noted.
Mr. Laskar stated that he hoped the street library would inculcate the habit of giving back after using a public amenity. “This initiative emphasises the need to read, share, use a public utility with respect and return it for another person to use,” he added.
