Govt teachers raise funds for Class 3 girl’s edu, treatment

A Afra Fatima (8), a Class 3 student of Panchayat Union Primary School at Mallipattinam near Peravurani in Thanjavur district, met with an accident while she was on the way to school a few days ago, and sustained severe head injuries that led her to go into an unconscious state for a few days.

While the girl’s father Abdul Rahman, an electrician, was left wondering how to meet the expenses for her treatment, teachers at Afra’s school upon coming to hear of the situation, plunged into action. Taking steps to raise funds from their colleagues, the teachers raised about Rs 1.31 lakh and deposited it in a bank account opened in the girl student’s name. Although Afra managed to recover with the treatment, further funds poured in-accumulating to nearly the same amount collected initially, which was then deposited as a fixed deposit with a maturity value of Rs 2.58 lakh by 2029, to fund her higher education.

On Friday, the Tamil Nadu Teachers Federation district president, S Mutharasan, handed over the bond paper to Afra in the presence of Block Education Officers MK Ramamurthy and Sakuntala.