AMARAVATI: In a laudable gesture, the children from Zilla Parishad High School (ZPHS) at Ilavaram near Tenali donated books and stationery to the children of crisis ridden
Sri Lanka
following a request made by Srilankan teacher.
Motivated by the English teacher P
Harikrishna, the students from Ilavaram ZPHC interacted with Srilankan teacher
Krishna Weerathunga Ekanayake
via video-conference. They were virtually moved by the plights of the children in Sri Lanka and decided to donate the books and stationery.
“It is very painful to hear about the agony of the children from our neighbouring country. We have requested our teacher Harikrishna Sir to send the books and materials collected by us,” said T
Sai Naga Sri
and M Sruthi of class-VIII.
Another class-VII student S Roshini said that they wanted to do more for them by approaching local NGOs and philanthropists. She explained that they were left speechless when Ekanayake madam explained us that the children in their country were unable to attend the schools due to the severe economic crisis which left them without books and stationery.
Interestingly, the students from Ilavaram ZPHS have been receiving small donations and assistance from the teachers in developed nations following their interactive sessions organized by Harikrishna. Many of the students studying in Ilavaram ZPHS were from the poor and economically backward sections.
English teacher Harikrishna had been regularly connecting with expert academicians in different universities and premier educational institutions across the globe to promote English speaking skills and also career planning for the children from his school. Harikrishna’s initiative had helped hundreds of students from Ilavaram high school not only to speak fluently in English but also developed a network of mentors and academicians across the globe to pursue their higher education. “It is true that many of our students are poor by their economic status. They have proved rich by heart when they voluntarily came forward to donate books and stationery for Srilankan children,” Harikrishna told ‘TOI.’
Harikrishna met Ekanayake, the lone teacher from Sri Lanka to get selected for the Fulbright exchange programme in the US a few months ago and learnt about the deep crisis. Ekanayake is working at Kolonnawa Balika Vidyalaya based in Columbo.
Subsequently, he organized a video-conference with the children from his school. “We are sending the books to the children from Sri Lanka in order to see that they continue their studies,” said students D Mounika,
Ch Manasa
and A Nandini.