Mita Mukherjee
Students of Presidency University, Kolkata will donate the funds earmarked for organizing their annual fest to a city-based child care hospital for setting up Covid care beds for children.
The funds allotted to students for arranging various events including cultural programmes, sports, drama festivals and debate competitions will be used for offering one-time scholarships to needy students of the university hailing from Covid-19 affected families, the students said.
40 per cent of the entire students’ welfare fund which is spent for arranging the students’ fests will be given to the Institute of Child Health, Park Circus, Kolkata, according to the students.
30 per cent of the welfare fund which is usually spent for arranging various events by the students’ union will be utilized for giving the scholarships to university students who are going through financial constraints because of the pandemic, the students said.
Experts have warned that the third wave of the Coronavirus is likely to hit the country towards the end of the year and many of them have warned that children are likely to be affected by the third wave more than the adults.
The Presidency University Students’ Union has taken the decision to offer the funds to the hospital to ensure that sufficient numbers of dedicated Covid care beds for children can be set up before the third wave hits the state.
“The university is closed and we are still not sure when we will be in a position to conduct the fest and other events on the campus. These events are important and students are eagerly waiting to arrange them on the campus. But considering the present situation, students of our university unanimously feel that it is more important now to extend our help for treatment of children infected with Covid-19,” said Deeprojit Debnath, a third-year undergraduate student of economics.
The students had given the proposal to the Students’ Welfare Board of the university. The authorities have approved the proposal.
The union had taken the opinion of the students on whether they would want to donate the funds or not through a signature campaign. “We received an overwhelming response ,” said a leader of the students’ union.
Around Rs three lakh will be given to the hospital while Rs two lakh will be used for giving the one-time scholarship to the students.
The remaining 30 per cent of the students welfare fund will be kept in hand for emergencies.
Debojyoti Konar, registrar of Presidency University said the concern of the students was discussed in a meeting of the students welfare board. “ The board has finally approved the requests of the students,” he said.
The students had also appealed to the university to refund the amount to the needy students which had been paid by them to the university as semester fees during the pandemic. The authorities have approved this appeal as well.
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