Retirees launch rural development programme for villagers in Hoskote besides helping eight schools in the city

Senior citizens make a difference

Retirees launch rural development programme for villagers in Hoskote besides helping eight schools in the city

Speak up: The senior citizens have taken to helping out eight schools
in the city. They'll visit the schools to help students speak English.

The like-minded senior citizens from Bangalore, who hope to encourage more and more kids to stay in school and work harder, have donated books, shoes, textbooks, toys and chemistry sets to schools in the village.

Shyam Agarwal, a member of the society, said, "Chemical labs are not available in most schools and these kids don't get to see how experiments are conducted. They only see pictures in books. So, now, we have given them experimental kits so that they know exactly how chemicals work."

Free corpus loans will also be given to women in the village, who will then elect a representative to choose how the money is spent. "They will have to repay the loan to themselves. We stay out of it once we've given them the money. Our focus will also be on rainwater harvesting for agricultural purposes."

Villagers will be given free medical care and cataract testing will be available for those above the age of 40.

In Bangalore
The senior citizens have taken to helping out eight schools. On Saturdays, the organisation's 60 members and their spouses visit the schools to help them speak English.

"It's important to not just learn subjects in English but to also speak the language well. We're encouraging students to work harder by giving prizes to the star performers.

We have also helped add a new element to the mid-day meals; kids can now eat ragi for breakfast," said R Parathasarathy, another member.

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels