An upgraded government school in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka has purchased a bus with the revenue it earned through the sale of areca nut grown on its land. The school, which has a history of 112 years, has 4.15 acres of land and it was in 2017 that the School Development and Monitoring Committee (SDMC), along with the teachers and the villagers, planted 628 saplings of areca nut on this land.
The areca nut started yielding last year. The farm of the school is outsourced to local people through which the school gets Rs 2.50 lakh income annually. It is through this income that the school has bought a 26-seater bus, costing Rs 5 lakh, to bring students from distant places to the school. The maintenance of the bus would be handled by SDMC from the income of the areca nut farm, Headmistress A Saroja told PTI.
The school has 118 children, most of whom hail from poor families. Some of these students come from far-flung places and a school bus would help ease their transport to and from the school. Puttur MLA Sanjeeva Matandoor flagged off the bus on Saturday, September 10, and lauded the efforts of villagers, school teachers and the SDMC. According to PTI, an additional room has been sanctioned for the school and a concrete road would be laid to the school soon, Matandoor added.
