Five Kerala students raise over Rs 4 lakh to donate tablets to government school children
The grade 12 students launched an online crowdfunding campaign on June 12 and raised over Rs 4 lakh. Using the money, they bought 40 tablets and donated them to government school students.
The pandemic has brought to the fore the issue of education inequality and the digital divide in the country, making access to education a privilege that can be afforded by very few.
While online learning has been a major setback for many students, especially in rural areas, the financial conditions caused by the pandemic have made digital learning inaccessible. However, there are many good samaritans who are offering hope amid the crisis.
Five grade 12 students of Pallikoodam School at Kalathipady in Kottayam joined hands to raise funds to buy tablets for less privileged students.
“The students came out with an impressive initiative to raise funds for students from economically backward families,” the school authorities told TNIE.
Nihal Mathew, Niranjan Menon, Vinayak Dinesh, Kurien George Kalarickal, and Kurien Kalarickal are the students who took up this initiative.
Image: TNIE
“The students launched an online crowdfunding campaign on June 12 and they raised over Rs 4 lakh. Using the money, they bought and donated 40 tablets to students of two government-run schools in Kanam and Kumarakom in the district,” said the school.
This campaign was launched in association with The Tiny Seed, a non-profit organisation, that’s committed to changing the lives of children by making their schools better places of learning.
“The pandemic has widened the social gap, especially with everything going digital. Unfortunately, many students of government schools do not have access to a smartphone or tablet, and this puts them at a serious disadvantage,” the students posted on the crowd-funding page they had created, requesting more people to donate.
Those who wish to make donations can do so by logging in to https://pages.razorpay.com/tabletsschool
(Written by Vrinda Garg)
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Edited by Megha Reddy