Eight-year-old Tamil Nadu boy donates Rs 10,000 savings towards Covid relief

NAGAPATTINAM: An eight-year-old boy from a village in Nagapattinam has joined the growing list of children who are pledging their savings towards Covid-19 management and relief.
On Wednesday, S Suhaashan, a class III student of the panchayat union primary school at Ramagovinda Kadu in Thagattur village, met district collector Praveen P Nair and handed over a demand draft of Rs 10,135 towards the chief minister’s relief fund.The boy had saved the money for purchasing a gadget for attending online classes.
Earlier, on Tuesday evening, he had rung up his headmaster expressing his willingness to donate his savings in the post office savings account for the cause.
Asked why he chose to do so, he told headmaster G Subramaniyan that he saw news about people dying due to Covid-19 on television and thought his savings may help the government get medicines for those affected.
Moved by his request, Subramaniyan spoke to his parents and got their consent.
He also made arrangements for Suhaashan to meet the collector and hand over the DD. Collector Praveen P Nair greeted the boy with a shawl for his gesture and being a role model for others at his tender age.
Asked how he will get the gadget for online classes now, Suhaashan said he will ask his father to get him one. The boy’s father S Sakthivel, 38, credited headmaster Subramaniyan for inculcating the habit of savings in children. “It has become a habit for Suhaashan to save all the money that he receives from relatives during festivals and what we give him occasionally for his piggy bank,” he said.