From an institution which had been on the brink of closure due to the drop in the number of students, Little Flower UP School at Kaloor today has come a long way.

Not only has the school increased its strength from 80 to 117, but it has also become an education hub for children belonging to migrant families. Headmistress Maria Lilly said ‘making a bookmarker’ was the first project launched by the school.

Taking their eco-friendly initiatives to the next level, the students of the school along with their family members and teachers, decided to give a helping hand to make Ernakulam plastic-free. On Sunday, the students earned `3,210 from the sale of cloth bags made by them.

“The students plan to use the money earned from the sale of the bags to buy a month’s ration for three of their schoolmates who hail from financially backward families. The decision was entirely theirs and the teachers had no role,” said the headmistress.

“This was the second project undertaken by the school,” said Maria Lilly.

According to her, the school had been in a tight spot during the last academic year. “Our strength dropped to 80 and this led to a division fall which resulted in the drying up of government funds to pay salaries of teachers,” said Maria Lilly.

“We were at our wits’ end and running the school had become a major problem. To keep the school up and running, I was paying the salary of teachers from my pocket. It was around this time that we launched our first project. The students made bookmarkers and organised a sale. Not only was the sale a huge success, but it drew attention to the plight of the school,” she said. According to the headmistress, Archdiocese of Varapuzha announced it will take over the management of the school.

“Today we have 117 students and 70 per cent of them are from migrant families,” said Maria Lilly. “The students were given a target of making around 10 bags using discarded clothes. The bags cost between `5 and `50,” she said.