Thanjavur: Alumni Donates School Van To Government School, Aims To Provide Hassle-Free Travel For Students

Most government schools in rural areas of India struggle with infrastructure that often hampers the access to primary education. In some cases, one school caters to students across several villages in the region. For such students, transport infrastructure is extremely necessary; in absence of any transport facilities, students tend to skip school on most days.

Taking note of a similar situation in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, alumni of the government school here have donated a school van worth ₹13 lakhs to the school through crowd-funding.

Hassle-Free Travel For Students

Around 190 children from Poovathur, Peikarambankottai, Palamuthur, Thirumanglakottai, Kudikadu, Kakkarai, Thelungankudikadu, Melayur, and neighbouring villages of Thanjavur's Orathandu district are enrolled in the Government Higher Secondary School.

Students were facing difficulties in commuting to the school as there were only a few government buses assigned to the school, said C. Rajamanickam, a member of the Poovai Education Development Trust. "In order to ensure hassle-free transportation for students coming from far-off places, we decided to donate a vehicle and launched a crowd-funding drive to implement the plan," he said, reported The Hindu. The van, an addition to other government buses at the school, is expected to facilitate hassle-free travel for the students.

Crowd-funding To Improve School Infrastructure

The vehicle worth ₹13 lakhs was donated to the school by alumni associated with the Poovai Education Development Trust. Several alumni members, teachers and residents of the village had established this trust recently for the development of the school infrastructure and quality of education. The trust collects money through crowd-funding.

The trust has stated that it will cover the expense of bus maintenance as well as the monthly salary of the van driver. "This small effort would certainly improve the enrolment of the school in the upcoming academic year," Mr Rajamanickam added.

Through the trust, a teacher had been appointed earlier to rectify the issue of teaching staff shortage at the school. Moreover, to improve the enrolment numbers in the school and ensure that children are not deprived of education, the trust had started kindergarten classes in the school recently.

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