KHAMMAM: At a time when films are often blamed for influencing society negatively, a BBA student drew inspiration from the 2015 Telugu film 'Srimanthudu' to develop a government school.
Duggi Devara Sri Raghunandan adopted Mallaram Primary School in Tallada mandal of Khammam district in 2016. Inspired by the film’s storyline — in which the protagonist, played by Mahesh Babu, adopts and develops his ancestral village — and encouraged by his parents Vijayalakshmi and Ajay Kumar, Raghunandan began supporting the school’s development.
Concerned about the environmental hazards of plastic, he resolved to eliminate its use on campus and replace it with sustainable alternatives. For the 51 students enrolled, he provided steel water bottles and steel plates for midday meals. Classrooms were equipped with steel dustbins for wet and dry waste segregation and steel soap boxes for handwashing. He also supplied steel trays for registers, aluminium buckets and mugs for toilets and urinals and glass bottles for storing laboratory materials. These measures have helped the school become completely plastic-free.
Beyond plastic elimination, Raghunandan supported infrastructure improvement, cleanliness drives, greenery and water conservation initiatives.
The school’s transformation earned national and state recognition. It received the National Swachh Vidyalaya Award from the Union government for the academic year 2016-17 and state-level Swachh school awards for 2016-17 and 2017-18.
Tallada Mandal Educational Officer Nemmakanthi Damodara Prasad describes the initiative as commendable, saying the plastic-free model could inspire other institutions.
Speaking to TNIE, Raghunandan says his aim was not only to reduce environmental harm but also to instil awareness among students from a young age about the dangers of plastic and the importance of sustainable living.