An act of humanity has many definitions, but providing some kids with a life time experience and their happiness in accomplishing something they had considered off their limits is certainly a prominent one. Kannur District Collector Mir Mohammed Ali is the man who tried this innovation.
As part of encouraging tribal students and provide them exposure, the Collector, along with the teachers of Aralam Farm High School, arranged a summer holiday trip for them to Kochi. The students were supposed to take a tour bus, visit Marine Drive, Lulu Mall, spend a day enjoying at Wonder La and then drive back. However, the trip later saw a completely unexpected updation.
“We decided to make the trip special for them because, when the class 10 results came, not only all the kids cleared the exam but this year, the school got the maximum number of A+. Finally on May 12, when the Kochi tour ended, 38 kids, of Std IX and X, accompanied by principal Sasikala and other teachers, flew down to Kozhikode on an Air India flight from Kochi,” explains Mir Mohammed.
The trip was sponsored by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and the kids were given school bags and other gifts by HPCL before they boarded the flight. Overwhelmed by their happiness, Mir Mohammed says, “It was an incredible experience to watch their faces. The kids were so excited and they were literally going crazy on the flight. A kid while seeing an air hostess explaining safety measures even asked the teacher what he should study to become like her. It clearly shows how smart and intelligent these kids are. They too have visions and are capable of fulfilling those if shown the right path.”
Since October 2016, the Collector and his team are on a mission to uplift the tribal students in the Aralam forest area and as a part of this, the first milestone to be achieved was to increase the attendance percentage in the Aralam Farm High School, which is exclusively dedicated to tribal children. Multiple interventions were planned by the Collector to sensitise the families to send their kids to the schools with various programmes like archery classes etc to attract the kids. As a result, the attendance level which was only 240 out of 350 increased to 300. Students with good attendance were taken for a day trip around Kannur.
Talking about the reasons that do not allow tribal children to study, the Collector says that it was very difficult to deal with their parents, majority of who are uneducated and completely unaware of the outer world. Moreover, many private schools enrol these students in order to increase the admission count and later are least bothered about these kids.
The Collector and his team are also gearing up to provide basic infrastructure like a playground and smart classes in the school so that it becomes fully functional.
