THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:A letter signed by 50 students at Government Central High School, Attakulangara, demanding a school bus and smart classrooms, was submitted to Shashi Tharoor MP. The MP, in response, said that there was a possibility to use the MPLADS fund for the development of Government Central High School, Attakkulangara. He said he will discuss with the State Government and see what can be done.
He said that the school was 126 years old and one should not discard history. He noted that the school, which once had 1,700 students, had only 135 students now and more students should join. “We can still do something. I will talk to the state government,” he said.
Tharoor was inaugurating an event at the school, called ‘Postcard to a Tree’, in which children were to write letters to trees. He wrote on a postcard “May you grow, cast shade and blossom for a very long time!” Ironically, the event was held under the shade of raintrees waiting to be felled for TRIDA’s bus bay-cum-shopping complex project.
School headmaster Sureshbabu said that one could never know the time of the day, from the temperature here. Such is the shade of the trees here, he said. He said that the school had started several new initiatives, and hoped to have a thousand new admissions in the next academic year.
The event, conducted by Tree Walk, brought children from various parts of the city together. They lavished their love for various trees. It was not uncommon to find trees addressed as a living being. Mushraf, a participant, began his letter with ‘Priyappetta Mavu Chechi’, and expressed his prayer that the mango tree on the compound will not be brought down.
Hardit Singh, a Class V student at Christ Nagar International School, looked at the slanting branches of a tree there, and said, “We can build a tree house here.” Sumaiyya, a class X student at MVHSS, Thundathil, said that her home in Kannur had trees, but not so many.
Some of the participants were more comfortable in Tamil, and were allowed to write letters in Tamil. Naveen Kumar, a class VII student at the school, wrote, “A tree is a god which gives the breath of life.”
Santhi S, a member of Tree Walk, said that the event was held to sensitise children to nature. “We also wanted to know their perception about trees. Being the future generation, what they think will be tomorrow’s reality,” she said. The event concluded with all students taking home a participatory certificate. But many stayed on to play tag in the school’s spaces.
■ Shashi Tharoor inaugurated an event at the school, called ‘Postcard to a Tree’
■ The event, conducted by Tree Walk, brought children from various parts of the city together.
■ “May you grow, cast shade and blossom for a very long time!”, writes MP on a postcard