Bengaluru: Student uses prize money to buy 50 saplings for school

BENGALURU: A class 5 student who won a painting competition recently has used the cash prize to buy 50 saplings for his school. Impressed by the initiative, Bagalkot deputy commissioner (DC) R Ramachandran met Samarth S, a student of Kendriya Vidyalaya, and congratulated him.
Ramachandran even reimbursed the money spent on the saplings as a “token of appreciation”. Samarth bought the saplings from the forest department and planted them.The boy’s father, Suryakanth Parande, a driver with KSRTC, told STOI: “When he won the prize money, a jury member asked him what he would do with it and he said ‘something big’. I told him to buy a cycle or some study material, but he told me he wanted to help his classmates breathe better.”
“I will continue to do this in future,” Samarth said. Ramachandran, who’s also chairman of the Kendriya Vidyalaya, said students like him can change the country. The DC has directed the school to ensure sufficient water for the saplings. STOI has learnt that several other students of the school have been celebrating their birthdays by planting saplings. The campus is home to 1,000 plants.
Anantha Padmanabhan, the school principal, sought help to get water for the plants, and the DC issued a spot order to get a pipe from the nearest water tank laid for the purpose. The school has prohibited students from distributing chocolates on their birthdays. According to Padmanabhan, students can distribute only desi sweets.