Thiruvananthapuram: Siddharth D Shiju, a Class II student of the Pattathil Government LP School at Mangalapuram is grateful that he now has a smartphone to attend the online classes.
Husnafathima, a Class VI student and sister of Siddharth’s classmate and the school authorities had shelled out the money to buy him the phone.
It means a lot to the boy who has been forced to shuttle between a single-room shed and relatives’ houses along with his parents, siblings, grandmother and great grandmother.
He doesn’t even have a safe place to keep his books.
The family has been struggling to find a safe shelter since their home was destroyed in rains in 2018.
An uprooted tree had fallen over their house and damaged it completely.
Siddharth’s grandmother, Deepa S, who is a worker of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, then approached the authorities with the request to provide a safe home to them.
“Along with the kids, we moved to a temporary shelter built using corrugated roofing sheets.
But it was not safe to live in as there were many dangerous reptiles.
Twice we narrowly escaped from snake bites.
Many officials visited our house and took photos but no further action was taken.
We find it really difficult to live in the shed,” said Deepa.
Siddharth, along with his family, is now staying at his relative’s home where already five people are residing.
Siddharth’s family does all the cooking and store their things in the dilapidated shed.
Sidharth doesn’t even have enough space to keep his study materials.
Mangalappuram panchayat president Suma said she was unaware of the reason why they were not enlisted in any of the housing schemes of the state government.
She added that she was not sure whether the family had filed an application in the LIFE Mission scheme.
“We are extremely happy and thankful to all who took the initiative to get a mobile phone for Siddhu.
Even if we had tried we would not have been able to buy him a mobile phone,” Deepa said.