Retired headmistress donates ₹4cr worth land to govt school in Erode
Senthil.Kumaran@timesgroup.com
Call it charity or a marriage of generosity and public cause, an 80-yearold retired headmistress has donated an acre of land worth ₹4 crore for constructing government school buildings in Erode district. What is unique in her act is that it follows two similar gestures over two decades in the form of land for building hostels and a donation to upgrade a school.
K Ponmanidevi, wife of late Kumaranataraja Varadappan of Nallagoundampalayam village near Chitthode, began her career as a teacher in a government school in the district in 1964. After 32 years, she retired in 1996 as headmistress of a government high school in Modachur in Gobichettipalayam taluk.
After her husband died of an illness 20 years ago, Ponmanidevi moved with o her son Mayura Karthikeyan. However, tragedy struck Karthikeyan, a doctor, when he got electrocuted during the construction of his house in 2001. “After all these happened, I was left alone,” Ponmanidevi said. Sympathising with her condition, her sister Marathal, 77 and her sons began taking care of her.
Ponmanidevi began her charity streak in 2006 when she transferred 25 cents of land to the backward classes welfare department that wanted to construct a hostel for boys and girls. “The land was situated on the Erode-Chithode state highway,” Ponmanidevi said. Nine years later, in 2015, she donated ₹2 lakh to the government when the education department took steps to upgrade Chithode government girls high school as a higher secondary school.
TEACHING NEW LESSONS: Ponmanidevi, 80, began her charity streak in 2006 when she transferred 25 cents of land to construct a hostel
Ponmanidevi to be honoured by school, admin
However, the school which started Class XI was hamstrung by lack of space to start Class XII. “After coming to know about this, I decided to donate one acre of land to the school to construct additional buildings for class 12 students,” Ponmanidevi added. District collector Prabhakar received the documents of the land from Ponmanidevi on Saturday and asked educational department officials to take steps for constructing buildings for Class XII students.
Officials confirmed that they would start Class XII classes from this academic year after completing construction.
When asked about her unending acts of charity for public good, Ponmani quipped, “I want to do good as long as I live.” The school authorities and the district administration have decided to conduct a function to honour Ponmanidevi in the presence of school education minister K A Sengottaiyan.
Senthil.Kumaran@timesgroup.com
Call it charity or a marriage of generosity and public cause, an 80-yearold retired headmistress has donated an acre of land worth ₹4 crore for constructing government school buildings in Erode district. What is unique in her act is that it follows two similar gestures over two decades in the form of land for building hostels and a donation to upgrade a school.
K Ponmanidevi, wife of late Kumaranataraja Varadappan of Nallagoundampalayam village near Chitthode, began her career as a teacher in a government school in the district in 1964. After 32 years, she retired in 1996 as headmistress of a government high school in Modachur in Gobichettipalayam taluk.
After her husband died of an illness 20 years ago, Ponmanidevi moved with o her son Mayura Karthikeyan. However, tragedy struck Karthikeyan, a doctor, when he got electrocuted during the construction of his house in 2001. “After all these happened, I was left alone,” Ponmanidevi said. Sympathising with her condition, her sister Marathal, 77 and her sons began taking care of her.
Ponmanidevi began her charity streak in 2006 when she transferred 25 cents of land to the backward classes welfare department that wanted to construct a hostel for boys and girls. “The land was situated on the Erode-Chithode state highway,” Ponmanidevi said. Nine years later, in 2015, she donated ₹2 lakh to the government when the education department took steps to upgrade Chithode government girls high school as a higher secondary school.
TEACHING NEW LESSONS: Ponmanidevi, 80, began her charity streak in 2006 when she transferred 25 cents of land to construct a hostel
Ponmanidevi to be honoured by school, admin
However, the school which started Class XI was hamstrung by lack of space to start Class XII. “After coming to know about this, I decided to donate one acre of land to the school to construct additional buildings for class 12 students,” Ponmanidevi added. District collector Prabhakar received the documents of the land from Ponmanidevi on Saturday and asked educational department officials to take steps for constructing buildings for Class XII students.
Officials confirmed that they would start Class XII classes from this academic year after completing construction.
When asked about her unending acts of charity for public good, Ponmani quipped, “I want to do good as long as I live.” The school authorities and the district administration have decided to conduct a function to honour Ponmanidevi in the presence of school education minister K A Sengottaiyan.
No comments:
Post a Comment