A teacher at a government-aided school in Andarkadu village in Vedaranyam has distributed 1,200 umbrellas worth ₹1 lakh to students after noticing continued absenteeism during the monsoon.
Vasantha Chithravelu, a 50-year-old teacher at Sundaresa Vilas Aided Primary School, noticed that student attendance at the institution, where she had been teaching for the past 28 years, dropped significantly during the monsoon season.
“After Cyclone Gaja wreaked havoc in our town, the numbers dwindled further,” says Ms. Chithravelu. “I realised that small problems like access to umbrellas should not hinder education, and decided to buy them for these children myself,” she adds.
Ms. Chithravelu used her own savings to order 1,200 colourful umbrellas worth ₹1 lakh, and had them shipped from a showroom in Madurai. “I initially distributed 200 umbrellas in my school and the neighbouring ones. Later, I personally visited students to give them the umbrellas,” she says. Her umbrellas have been handed out to students of 16 schools in and around Andarkadu and Vedaranyam. To her, whom students lovingly call ‘Asathal Aasiriyai', giving to students is second nature. “I have been doing such things for years, but this is the first time I have been recognised for it,” she says.
Gaja relief
Ms. Chithravelu claims that she, along with her husband — a headmaster at a local government school — and two daughters, had raised ₹50 lakh after Cyclone Gaja and provided mats, clothes, 5 kg rice, lights, candles, matchboxes, baby food and even cooked dinner for her students’ parents, who are predominantly construction labourers. She has received around 30 awards, including the Dr. Radhakrishnan Award, bestowed on her by the government for her contributions to education. “The smiles on my students’ faces is the biggest of all awards. I will continue to strive for [meeting] their needs. I look at them as my family, as my children, and so, their needs are mine too,” she says.
