During this season of job losses and salary cuts, many families are likely to feel the pinch as they hit the market for school accessories as and when the government announces the reopening of schools.
The postgraduate commerce department at Al-Ameen College, Edathala, has embarked on a project, Pusthakasanji, to ameliorate the financial woes of such families by opening an online market for school accessories at a price 30% less than the MRP.
This is for the third straight year that the department is running the scheme, and proceeds from the sale will go into buying school accessories for residents of SOS Children’s Village at Aluva and other special schools. In the last two years, the sale was held at a building at Choondy, which was made available by the Edathala Service Cooperative Society free of rent. The market was made online this year in line with physical distancing norms.
“Last year, we did sales in excess of ₹3 lakh, though this time it may fall steeply owing to the pandemic blues,” said M.B. Sasidharan, who recently retired as principal of the college.
The postgraduate commerce students are at the heart of the project as they are involved in everything from taking delivery of stock and handling sales and publicity over social media platforms, and this time they will also have to deliver the products to customers.
“We are able to offer a discount of 30% by purchasing goods from companies directly and keeping the margins at the lowest. Customers can place orders through the Instagram id [pusthaka_sanji_20_21] and Facebook page [Pusthakasanji 20-21],” said K.R. Daly, head of the department of commerce.
Besides the noble intention of helping children in need, the college also has the goal of familiarising its students with hands-on trade practices, which may prove handy for them in the future.
In the previous years, students associated with the project were given a nominal daily remuneration for their work. Pooling it together amounted to a not so negligible sum, which was useful pocket money for them during their annual college trip.