Postal drive to boost savings habit in kids

“Till date around 1000 hundis, each costing Rs 50 have been distributed to 1000 children in 10 schools in Vellore and we plan to cover at least 100 schools in the district before the end of the current financial year,” she said.

“The department when handing over a hundi enrols the school student in a postal savings scheme and when the school authorities inform the department about the hundi being full, we send our staff and collect the money and hand over a receipt to the student about the money being deposited in

his or her Account,” she added.

“Though the division has a postal savings target of Rs. 95, 000 for the current year, we plan to ensure that at least Rs.20,000 of this amount is through students savings,” she said.

However, visiting schools also revealed new problems and insights into why the savings habit has not taken off in Vellore. “While students in private schools face no problem in paying Rs50 for the hundi, there are many students in government schools who cannot afford this amount. Therefore, we have been requested by the school head to give the hundi for free,” Vijaya added.