Taking the teacher-student relationship beyond classrooms, two government school teachers in Kodumudi block in Erode district provided financial support of ₹1,000 each to the families of 36 students, who are daily earners and lost their livelihood due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
The teachers belonged to the Panchayat Union Primary School at Chittapullampalayam village, near Salaidpudur. Located in a remote area, it has 33 students from Odakaran Thottam in Anna Nagar. The school was started in 1955 and had served the needs of villagers in the locality for the past 65 years. Apart from these 33 students, the teachers also provided cash assistance to three other students of this village, though they did study in this school.
“Most of the students’ parents are daily wagers who work in the construction and agriculture sectors, and are also involved in digging wells. Their livelihood was completely affected for over a month and we decided to extended support to the families,” said S.K. Umadevi, headmistress of the school. “They were without money for a month and hence we decided to provide them with ₹1,000 each”, she said.
The headmistress and her colleague M. Leeladevi contributed ₹36,000 and visited the houses of the students on April 20 to hand over the cash.
“The parents were initially clueless on the purpose of our visit. But when we explained, they were very happy”, she added. The teachers informed the local authorities of the purpose of their visit and travelled on a two-wheeler and distributed the cash on Monday.
The teachers said their small contribution could be a big support to the families who were without an income for a month. Three students are children of single parent while one has no parents and is living with grandparents. Another student has three brothers. Therefore, the money will help them during difficult times, Ms. Umadevi said.
