HUBBALLI: A Class 9 student who came to Hubballi from a nearby village to sell festoons of mango leaves as he could not afford notebooks for the upcoming academic year found a helping hand in the form of a traffic cop on Monday.
Kumar from Tadasinakoppa village, 20 km from Hubballi, is very interested in studies but following the lockdown, his family faced a financial crunch, making it difficult for them to manage his school expenditure. He is studying in a government high school where education is free and he gets free books too. But he has to spend money to buy notebooks and other materials.
He came to Hubballi with his aunt to sell the festoons. While he was waiting at the Sangolli Rayanna Circle in the city, Shambhu Radder, a traffic cop from Hubballi East Traffic Police Station who was discharging his duty there, noticed him with two big bags of festoons and enquired about him.
The boy and his aunt told the cop that since it was a holiday, they came to sell festoons in Hubballi and earn some money that will help them manage the family and his school expenditure too.
The cop then went to a nearby book stall and bought the boy enough notebooks and a packet of pens to complete the academic year, leaving him thrilled.
Shambhu Radder said he noticed the boy and came to know about his interest in studies. Therefore he bought him notebooks and pens. But he could not afford to give the boy a smartphone. He advised the boy to attend online classes with any friend who has a smartphone, the cop added.