KOCHI: It is a school where charity also is a ‘chapter’ being taught. The SNDP Higher Secondary School at Udayamperoor has started a project to provide Rs 2,000 each to families of 200 children who are financially not sound.
The school authorities have handed over the amount to around 200 families for the first month in July. It is using the donations from the staff that the school management mobilized the funds required for the project. “We have 103 staff members. All of them contributed amounts ranging from Rs 10,000 to 25,000. We have already collected Rs 14 lakh,” said school principal E G Babu.
“Our teachers identified the poor families after conducting proper inquiries,” Babu said. “Our school had been into charity for quite some time. When the pandemic hit, we thought of giving food kits or so to the needy. Then, we could understand that there are government and other agencies to do it. Parents in many of the beneficiary families had been working with textile shops, buses, etc. and have lost their jobs,” Babu said. “We hand over money to the mothers of the students,” he said.
On Wednesday, office-bearers of Cochin International Book Festival committee felicitated the staff of the school. “The staff of the school are giving a message of compassion. Even a local self- government institution can’t undertake such a task. That’s why we decided to honour them,” said book festival committee president E N Nandakumar. “We expect that the staff of other schools will also replicate the model,” said Nandakumar, a member of the board of trustees of National Book Trust.
The school had won the best school award at state level with a cash prize of Rs 16 lakh during 2018.
The school management is exploring different methods to mobilize funds for the scheme in the coming months.
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