ERODE: A government school teacher partnered with a private trust to fulfil the dreams of 22 students from hill villages to travel by plane.
Speaking to TNIE, A K Navaneethan, English teacher of Keelvani government middle school in Anthiyur, said, “I have been working in Keelvani for the past three years. Before that I worked for 12 years in government schools in Bargur hills. Since then, I have been very involved in the educational development of hill village children. Even after the transfer and coming to Anthiyur, I am doing various work for the development of those children.”
“There are 33 villages in Bargur hills. There are 32 schools in the hill villages ranging from primary to higher secondary. Student dropout remains a major problem in these schools. Along with some teachers, I have been conducting awareness work to prevent this. Two months ago, we selected six schools with poor attendance records. We assured the students that the wishes of those who had good attendance records would be fulfilled.” he added.
Further, he said, “We selected 11 male and 11 female students who had good attendance records. Due to stiff competition in some schools, marks of students with good attendance records were also calculated. Most of those students expressed a desire to travel by air. After getting permission, we took the students from Coimbatore to Chennai by flight on March 25. Four teachers, including me, and Bargur panchayat president O Malayan travelled with the students.”
The students took a ride on metro train in Chennai and were taken to a corporate company in Ekkattuthangal, where they interacted with the employees. The students were then taken on a tour of the city and visited several tourist attractions including the Marina beach. The group returned to Erode on March 26.
“The students travelled by air and train for the first time. Also, this was the first time they saw a sea. We did this to make them understand that there is another life beyond the hill villages. Hopefully this will create a spark in them,” he said.
Erode-based YAN Trust sponsored the trip. The teachers plan to do this every year and expand it to all schools. O Malaiyan, panchayat president of Bargur, said, “This has given great motivation to the children, and will encourage students to attend school regularly. The discussion with the corporate executives at Ekkattuthangal has created an awareness and the motivation will take them beyond school.”