Residents of Velachery adopt school students to bear their education expenses

“The majority of the children have single parent, and they are daily wagers, due to the pandemic induced lockdown they lost their job, and unfortunately they are unable to pay fees for this academic year. Recently, we learned from the principal of St Antony’s Higher Secondary School in Velachery that still many students are yet to pay fees as their parents have lost their job. So, initially, we decided to adopt 15 children and bear their education expenses, but we never expected that residents will come forward, and now we have adopted nearly 45 female students from class 4 to 12,” said M Balakrishnan, a resident of Velachery.

“However, the school fees are less compared to other schools which are Rs 2,000 to Rs 8,000 till class 12. Yet they are unable to pay that amount without any source of income. So, we handed the amount of Rs 56,000 to the school principal for this academic year,” he added.

The residents are planning to adopt more school students in the locality who are helpless, as many have lost their parents or both parents due to COVID-19, and for those who don’t have jobs in this pandemic.

“Apart from the education expenses, we will also help the students on any special occasions, already the students and their parents are happy after knowing that we are bearing their education expenses. Also, if our finances are stable we will adopt more such students from other schools in the locality, because already people are suffering in this pandemic, and we can’t see even children discontinuing their students as their parents could not pay school fees,” said another resident of Velachery.