Students of Adivasi Uchcha Vidyalaya in Sitaramdera can hope for cooler classrooms this summer.

Thanks to Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), which donated 12 ceiling fans and a podium to the school, under its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, at a function held on its campus in Jamshedpur on Thursday.

The move is in tune to the diamond jubilee celebrations of LIC this year. Basant Baghe, manager (new business) LIC, Jamshedpur, graced the occasion as the chief guest.

" Garmi me padhai karne ka man nahi karta hai. Abhi pankha lagane ke bad thoda rahat milega. (We don't like attending classes in summer. Once the fans are installed, we will get a bit relief)," said Ritu Gope, a Class XI student.

The school with 20 classrooms has 50 ceiling fans, most of which are creaky and don't work. Also, government fund is hard to access. So, LIC has taken up the cudgels to provide some respite to the poor kids in summer.

As a part of its CSR initiative, LIC has decided to educate parents of schoolchildren on the importance of life insurance policies. In the next academic year, LIC also plans to donate a considerable amount for the development of the school so that students who cannot afford proper education can at least enjoy some basic amenities in their school.

"We are planning to name this school as a Beema School that will be liable to receive funds from LIC, which in turn can be used to improve the school infrastructure. We usually donate an amount of Rs 50,000 to government schools and we plan to reach out to more schools in the near future," said Deepesh Kataria, senior branch managerof LIC, Jamshedpur-I.

School teachers sounded equally happy.

"Everybody is aware about the poor condition of government schools. It makes us happy to know that from now on students will be eager to attend classes and concentrate on their studies," said Gaurav Kumar Singh, a teacher.