Villagers donate van to government school for transporting students

TIRUCHY: In a noble gesture to help the government school students commute, parents and the residents of a village, where the school is located, have donated a bus worth Rs 13 lakh through crowd funding on Tuesday and appointed a driver for the purpose.

Around 190 students from Poovathur, Peikarambankottai, Palamuthur, Kudikadu, Thelungankudikadu, Thirumanglakottai, Melayur and Kakkarai villages study in the Government High School, Poovathur near Orathanadu in Thanjavur.

In addition to this, another 185 students are on rolls in the Panchayat Union Primary School and Government Nursery School nearby.

Sources said that youth, parents, teachers and alumni of the government school recently formed Poovai (Poovalur) Education Development Trust and have been donating to the development of the school and are encouraging the students in both academic and co-curricular activities.

Meanwhile, people from Poovalur found that the students were struggling to reach the school owing to the limited number of government buses and decided to provide buses. In line with their decision, they pooled up money and purchased a vehicle worth Rs 13 lakh, which was handed over to the school on Tuesday.

“In order to ensure hassle-free commute for students coming from far off places, we decided to donate a vehicle and launched a crowd funding drive to realise the plan,” S Rajamanickam, one of the trust members, said.

He said that the vehicle would transport 180 students each day. “The maintenance and the salary for the driver would be met by the trust and this small step would certainly enhance the admission in the upcoming academic year,” he said.

The trust has appointed eight teachers and has also started KG sections to improve admission. Thanjavur CEO M Sivakumar, DEO M Govindaraj, High School HM Hemalatha and others were present on the occasion.