Chief Secretary V. Irai Anbu has lauded M. Dinakaran, a schoolteacher from Vellore, for taking students to school in his autorickshaw for preventing dropouts.
Mr. Irai Anbu met Mr. Dinakaran and his family at the Secretariat in Chennai a few days ago in the presence of Kakarla Usha, secretary, School Education Department; and G. Arivoli, Director of School Education.
He felicitated the teacher and gave him a book Unnodu Oru Nimisham, that he authored.
“It was a dream come true when he [Mr. Irai Anbu] appreciated my work for the students in front of my family. He said he was satisfied and wanted me to continue the good work,” Mr. Dinakaran told The Hindu.
The Chief Secretary’s gesture comes after The Hindu carried a report, dated June 18, highlighting the teacher’s initiative to take students to the Government Primary School in Pasmarapenta, a tribal village near Pernambut town in Vellore, and drop them back to their houses every day since June 14, when all primary schools reopened after summer holidays.
“I have been a teacher in the village for 12 years. I told him [Mr. Irai Anbu] that I knew every family in the tribal hamlets in person and how the students came to school every day. So, I decided to do it,” Mr. Dinakaran said.
The Chief Secretary also spoke to Mr. Dinakaran’s three children and advised them to be like their father.
Formed in June 1962, the Government Primary School in Pasmarapenta has over 100 students and four teachers. Most of the students are from Pasmarapenta, Samaneri, and Kollaimedu tribal hamlets.
