The novel idea of distributing ‘hundials’ to school students to motivate them to save their pocket money for buying books in the ‘Kalam Puthaga Thiruvizha’ has become a big hit with hundreds of students flocking the stalls with hundials full of their savings and going on a buying spree.
The ‘Kalai Ilakkiya Arvalar Sangam’, a local literary body, which jointly organised the book fair with the district administration and Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI) came out with the idea three months ago and distributed plastic hundials to 1.08 lakh students.
“We distributed the hundials to motivate each student to save at least Rs. 100 in three months at the rate of Re one per day and the students delighted us by saving more than our expectations,” A Chinnadurai Abdullah, President of the Sangam told The Hindu . As each student was expected to buy books for a minimum of Rs. 100 with the savings, sales through students alone was expected to touch Rs. One crore this year, he said.
Jayakumar, a class VII student from Ariya Vaisya Matriculation School (AVMS), Paramakudi was seen moving around carrying ‘Agni siragugal,’ the Tamil version of former President A P J Abdul Kalam’s ‘Wings of Fire.’ “I saved Rs. 300 in the hundial and bought the book for Rs. 130,” he says. Earlier he had been using his pocket money for buying chocolates and candies, he said.
T. Sabarinath, a class VII student of Government Higher Secondary School, Rameswaram had saved Rs. 150 and had bought books on tips to keep blood sugar level under check for his father, a diabetic and science experiments for himself, spending Rs. 120. His classmate K Hariprasad had saved Rs. 300 and bought books for Rs. 298.
S. Asifa, a class X student of AVMS, Paramakudi visited the book fair with her ‘hundial’ overflowing with total savings of Rs. 650. She spent the entire money for buying books at the fair, she said.
Twin objectives
“We are happy we achieved the twin objective of promoting the habit of small savings in the minds of school students and buying books,” Mr. Abdullah said.
