SRIKAKULAM: “Helping hands are better than praying lips,” this quote by Mother Teresa has inspired the Srikakulam Government Degree College principal to come up with an initiative to help the poorest of the poor students.
The Principal, P Surekha, has launched an aid programme, ‘Share and Care’, to help the poor, orphaned and disabled students.
Srikakulam is one of the most backward districts in the country and is also known for poverty and migrations. Some estimates show that at least 20 per cent people of Srikakulam, including youth and children have been migrating to other places in search of livelihood. Many of them have dropped out at secondary and college-level due to poverty.
A few of them even ended their lives due to financial problems. Though the district has good sports talent, poverty becomes a big hurdle for them to excel in the field of their choice.
Noticing all these aspects and learning about the financial struggles of meritorious students in the college, Surekha launched ‘Share and Care’. She has been collecting donations from the college students and staff on the first Friday of every month. She has constituted a special committee to disburse the aid to the students in need in a transparent manner.
She has appointed the teaching, non-teaching and students in the fund committee. As many as 1,800 students and 101 teaching and non-teaching staff have been voluntarily donating their bit to the programme. She had introduced this programme under the college’s best practice policy framework to inculcate the spirit of social responsibility in students.
The committee has passed a resolution to provide 50 per cent fund collected through the programme for their college students. The remaining fund will be utilised for the poor, orphaned and disabled in the society.
Speaking to TNIE, Surekha said: “Poverty is a big hurdle for the students in Srikakulam district. I have seen a girl, who died by suicide due to financial problems. I shared my opinion with the staff. All of us together decided to launch ‘Share and Care’. We received a good response for our initiative on the first day itself. We have received as many as `12,000 through voluntary donations from our students and staff.’
“We will disburse the aid to the selected students on Republic Day. We will provide tuition fees, books and sports material to the poor students with this fund. As of now, we are conducting the ‘Share and Care’ programme only in our college,” she explained.