ARYANAD: When the tiny tots at Government Tribal Lower Primary School, Theviyarukunnu, return with their ‘shining morning faces’ for the new academic year that begins in another fortnight, they will have a special back-to-school surprise waiting for them. Each student will get a new bag and umbrella made in the school itself by their parents and other members of the neighbouring community.
Around 120 participants, including students’ guardians, members of the tribal settlement and residents of other surrounding areas, are currently undergoing training in the school for bag and umbrella-making.
“We have two batches each for both the training programmes, one in the morning and another later in the afternoon,” said headmaster D Sathya Jose.
“The students will each be presented with a new bag and umbrella when school reopens on June 2,” he said.
The training sessions, which began last week, are being conducted under the supervision of resource persons from Government Polytechnic College, Nedumangad, under its MHRD-sponsored ‘Community Development through Polytechnics’ programme.
“First, we are teaching them how to repair umbrellas, how to sew the fabric on to the metal frame and set the umbrella’s shaft and ribs straight if damaged,” said Aswathy G, one of the trainers for umbrella-making. “It is more difficult to repair an umbrella than to make one from scratch,” she said.
They have, she said, bought raw materials and umbrella-making kits enough to make 60 umbrellas, each worth around Rs 170. Similarly, rexine and other materials for the making of 60 school bags, worth around Rs 150 each, have also been bought. The raw materials were bought, said the headmaster, with the sponsorship of staff and students from St Thomas Residential School, Mukkolakkal.
“Including the new admissions, we have at present around 57 students enrolled in classes 1 to 4,” said Jose. “Of these, around 40 are from the Theviyarukunnu tribal settlement,” he said.
The training is being given by Aswathy G, Veena S and Chandrasekharan G.