The Lawrence School, Lovedale, has adopted a Paniya tribal hamlet, and has mobilised students and staff to help rebuild the homes of the tribal families that were damaged during heavy rain in the Nilgiris.
In a press release, the Nilgiri Adivasi Welfare Association (NAWA) said that consistent spells of rain in Gudalur and Pandalur taluks over the last three months had caused severe damage to houses in both taluks.
As NAWA was already working with the district administration in relief and rehabilitation in the region, the Lawrence School, Lovedale, approached them with the idea of adopting a tribal village as part of a community project through which the school aimed at assisting in social work with the help of their students, said Mr. Pushpakumar of NAWA, who is the Project Co-ordinator.
“After several visits, school Headmaster Mr. Prabakar Nair, along with Project In-charge Mr. Kuldeep Singh chose to adopt 23 houses in PRF Colony (Paniya Tribal Hamlet), Kayunni with ₹10 lakh as budget to fix the roof of all 23 houses in the village,” the press release from NAWA said.
Starting this month, 76 students from Class 11 along with 12 teaching and support staff have been dedicating several hours of their time each week towards the project. The students and staff have been assisting in painting and roofing and have also been conducting awareness programmes to discourage alcoholism, bringing down school drop-out rates, preventing child marriage and promoting cleanliness, the press release said.
