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| Kunhikrishnan, Sankaranalloor UP School, Mangattidam near Koothuparambu, Kannur |
Sankaranalloor UP School in Mangattidam near Koothuparambu, Kannur is surrounded by paddy fields which get flooded over during monsoon. It wouldn’t be easy then to differentiate the field from the narrow footpath. Once, few students fell into the stream beside the field but were luckily rescued. It was then that Kunhikrishnan, a teacher of the school remarked that if only the students were taught swimming in addition to their regular classes…
And so an extraordinary Parent-Teacher Association meeting was convened just to discuss the issue of imparting swimming lessons. The parents were apprehensive at first and even doubted if the school was unnecessarily diverting its energy. Although Kunhikrishnan’s two children joined the programme, not more than 15 students were ready for the practical swimming lessons.
Nevertheless, in August 1999, the master set out to the temple pond adjacent to the school. While other teachers provided moral support from the bank, Kunhikrishnan and his colleague Sudhakaran dived into the pond and signaled the start of the venture.
With automobile tubes and dry coconuts as their lifebelts, the students entered the water and were taught the basics of staying afloat and swimming.
Since then both parents and students have come to appreciate the course. There is, in fact, demand by the parents at the time of admission, to teach their wards the practical lesson of staying afloat in water.
Recently, when few schoolchildren died in a boat capsize at Thattekkad, the people of Sankaranalloor remarked that if only they had a teacher like Kunhikrishnan, such tragedy could have been averted.
Learning life’s lessons can be joyful, attests the hundred-odd participants trooping behind the master to the pool everyday. And imparting worthwhile skills to the needy is also a joyful, as the voluntary effort of Kunhikrishnan testifies.
Courtesy:
T.Ajeesh (text), Abu Shahim (photo), Sree, Malayala Manorama, August 19,
2007
Contributed by: Administrator
