The teachers at the Havoor Panchayat Union Primary School in Kil Kotagiri, moved by the plight of the poor students under their care, raised funds to provide essential items to the families of 66 children recently.

School principal J. Ravikumar said that children from remote villages in Kil Kotagiri come to study at the school. “Their parents are mostly daily wage workers, and we learned that they had been severely impacted by the lockdown.”

The teachers also conducted a survey of poor and elderly people in the villages of Denad and Havoor and Kil Kotagiri and handed over supplies to 50 families in need of help.

“There were many people who required assistance, like this one woman whose husband and daughter had died and was living alone, as well as an elderly couple. These people will need assistance both in the short and medium term, so we are trying to come up with a strategy whereby we can support them till they can find a way of supporting themselves,” said a teacher from the Havoor panchayat union primary school.