- Thursday, April 25, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
A MAN in the eastern Indian state of Bihar has taken up a unique initiative to admit students to his institute that trains students for competitive examinations. Instead of charging money, he asks 18 saplings as the admission fee.
The initiative has seen around 500 poor students bag government jobs so far, Gulf News reported.
Thirty-three-year-old Rajesh Kumar Suman started the initiative with the twin goals of helping poor students who are unable to pay big money to get admitted to the coaching institutes and conserving the environment.
ALSO READ: Mumbai man pays poor girl Rs 120,000 for 12 mangoes to help her study online
Under Suman’s initiative, students have deposited around 110,000 saplings to the institute which is in operation in the state’s Samastipur district since 2008. The saplings have been planted in several villages in the state’s northern part and they have added to the greenery and helped the local villagers to increase their income by selling fruits that the trees that have grown out of the saplings bear.
“There is a scientific logic behind collecting 18 plants from each student as an admission fee. One person inhales as much oxygen throughout his/her life as 18 plants generate. So we collect only such numbers of plants,” Suman said, adding the purpose is to create a green cover and conserve the environment.
Suman said he mainly takes fruit-bearing plants, such as mangoes, from the students. According to him, everyone has been working to earn money but not many care for Mother Nature.
His institute is also run by volunteers who do not take money for the preparatory lessons that are given two hours in the morning and evening, Gulf News added.
“All the teachers lending services at the institute are employed somewhere. They are guided by the motto to serve the society,” Suman, whose institute has given free teaching to almost 5,000 students in the past 13 years, said.
Suman, who is an environmental activist, started the initiative after noticing that the villagers were taking more interest in growing two main crops – paddy and wheat – than planting fruit trees. On Sundays, when his institute remains closed, he travels across Bihar to convince villagers to plant more saplings. He intensified his campaign during the devastating second wave of the coronavirus pandemic when people struggled to get an oxygen cylinder to save lives of their kin in hospitals.
