Mangaluru: Despite Padma Shri Harekala Hajabba being conferred the fourth-highest civilian award, it has not affected his routine work in any way, said the students ahead of Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar’s visit to the school.
Speaking to media on Saturday, February 15, the students said, “He (Hajabba) opens the school and shuts it after the schoolchildren go home in the evening. We have not found a single change in his attitude after he was chosen for the award.”
Asmiya, who is an eighth standard student at Harekala Newpadpu High School, said, “We are proud to be the students of this school as this school was built with the hard-earned money of Hajabba.”
The students of the school further said that they came to know about the award after they watched television and read the newspaper. “When we meet Hajabba sir every day, his first question is always “Hegiddeeri Makkale?” (How are you, children?) The question itself shows a lot of concern for us,” said Zohra, a ninth standard student at the same school.
Though the school has been receiving a lot of facilities over the years, it is still lacking some basic facilities like a compound wall, a playground, drinking water facilities, a laboratory, and a library among others.
In this regard, Harekala Hajabba has submitted a memorandum to Minister Suresh Kumar on Saturday.
“We don’t have a good playground in our school. Besides that, we want computers also. If there would be a pre-university college on our campus, then there would be no need for us to pursue PU education elsewhere,” said the school students.
The Harekala Newpadpu Primary School has 91 students and the high school has 73 students. While the primary school has five teachers, the high school has six teachers. Since the Education Minister promised to take a serious note of all the demands put forward by Hajabba, it is expected that this school will get many more facilities in the coming days.
