The teachers of Darul Hidya Orphanage Higher Secondary School, Pookkarathara near Edappal, became a model for the fraternity when they visited their students’ homes and had a first-hand experience of their situation during the lockdown.
“We were aghast at finding that dozens of our dear students were in penury. Their parents were either sick or jobless, and the condition of some of them was pathetic,” said M.V. Abdul Jaleel, one of the teachers.
Empathising with the students, the teachers pooled their resources and decided to help the students. “The help we offered them now had an emotional tag to it, even though we all believe that we are doing our job,” said Mr. Jaleel.
Along with words of solace, the teachers offered them grocery kits also. About 400 kits were distributed to the poor students in the past three days.
They also gave masks, sanitisers and soaps to their students, and convinced them about the importance of sanitation especially during the COVID-19 period.
The teachers also supplied vegetable seeds and saplings to the students along with leaflets describing the importance of developing kitchen gardens. School Principal K.M. Bensha was the driving force behind promoting kitchen gardens.
Parent Teacher Association president K. Kammunny, school alumni association’s UAE unit secretary K. Faqruddin, and headmaster V. Hameed too joined the teachers in their drive. Apart from Mr. Jaleel, his colleagues E. Moideenkutty, O. Basheer, K. Moinuddin, K. Abdul Kareem, Hafsa, Najeeb and Salam were in the forefront.
