Rincy and Ananthakrishna, both aged 8, had left their flood-battered homes in Thuruthipuram near North Paravur wondering how long it would take for them to swing and slide in their favourite school park again.

But, a surprise was in store for the children as they walked into the Government S.N.V. Lower Primary School, Thuruthipuram, on Monday morning. The slide, swings and the benches in the park, which had got discoloured in the rushing flood waters, were gleaming with a fresh coat of paint. New charts, scribblings and graffiti had replaced all that the waters had taken away.

Only later did they realise that their dream had been made real by some angels in the form of youngsters, teachers, professionals from IT and other fields, who had worked tirelessly to make it all happen. These unknown faces and hands represent the increasing tribe of Good Samaritans engaged in the re-building of flood-ravaged schools in Ernakulam.

“We had kept some money for conducting the Onam programmes in our university. We used that along with the funds given by our friends to re-build the school,” said Muhammed Shibin, a final-year student of B.Tech Information Technology at the Cochin University of Science and Technology. The youth was part of the 45-odd volunteers who had joined hands to restore the flood-hit government school to its original condition.

Sreepriya, an IT professional with a company in SmartCity Kochi, said that they were able to complete works so as to enable the teachers to resume the classes by Monday. “For the kitchen (where mid-day meals are prepared for the 65 children), we bought a new stove, utensils and other necessary items as everything here was either washed away or destroyed in the floods,” she said.

Mr. Shibin said that they had also spruced up the school park and given a fresh coat of paint for the damp walls and wet classrooms. “We wanted to bring back the school to its prior state as much as possible. However, much work seems left in other flood-hit schools and we hope our endeavour will inspire others to pursue it,” he said.

Praising the efforts made by the volunteers, Shelia A. Salam, headmistress of the school, said that the houses of all the 65 children in the school were affected in the floods. “Our school met with extensive damage. We had lost three desktops, two laptops, sound system, motor, compound wall, toilets, office registers, and documents,” she said.

P. S. Chandrika, geadmistress of P.S.M. Government Lower Primary School, Puthenvelikara, expressed hope that the school could come back with the growing support from a cross section of individuals, associations and organisations.

“We got help for clean-up work from policemen, education department officials, and residents’ associations. An IT major has assured us school kits having notebooks, tiffin-box and school bags. A social media group involving education department officials in Thiruvananthapuram has assured us t-shirts, shoes, umbrellas, notebooks for our 250-odd students. Teachers and students from Cusat helped us in cleaning up the wells on the campus,” she said.

However, Ms. Chandrika said that they had no idea how to replace the damaged laptops and desktops. “Most of the children belong to parents who are daily wage labourers. We cannot ask them to pay for these replacements. I have no idea how to bring them daily to the school, as the only bus used to transport them was also damaged in the floods,” she said.

C.S. Santosh, Deputy Director of Education, Ernakulam, said that a leading company had promised 2 lakh notebooks for the students in the flood-affected schools in Ernakulam. “School bags have been offered by a Kerala-based company while a public sector oil major has informed that they are considering a proposal to repair the flood-damaged buildings. We now need support for replacement of IT equipment. As per our preliminary estimates, over 200 laptops and 125 projectors were destroyed in the floods in government and aided schools in the district,” he said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by G. KrishnaKumar / Kochi – September 04th, 2018