Government school students show ‘honesty is the best policy’

UDHAGAMANDALAM In a heartwarming display of honesty, three government school students in Udhagamanda

In a heartwarming display of honesty, three government school students in Udhagamandalam, returned a large sum of money that was left behind by a passenger at the Ooty town bus stand recently.

Plus-Two student Vinod and Plus-One students Suryakumar and Sanjay were waiting at the bus stand when one of the them found a bag there. “The bag had ₹ 35,000 cash. We decided to wait till the owner of the bag returned,” said Suryakumar, who spoke to The Hindu.

Mr. Suryakumar’s father is an auto-rickshaw driver and mother a tea estate worker. The Gudalur resident, who stays in a government-run hostel in Udhagamandalam, waited with his two friends, both from Naduvattam, with the bag till the person to whom it belonged to, returned. “He was extremely thankful that we kept the bag safe. He bought us tea and snacks to thank us, though we insisted against it,” said Suryakumar.

P.B. Jayakumar, headmaster of the Ooty Government Higher Secondary School where the three boys study, said that he was extremely proud of the students. “All three are from underprivileged backgrounds, and it was extremely heartening to learn of their honesty. Passengers who witnessed the incident took pictures of the boys and began sharing stories of the incident on mobile messaging applications, which is how we came to learn of the incident,” he said.

Mr. Jayakumar said that he had already told the students’ parents of the incident and that he plans to recognise their honesty at a public assembly service in the school on Monday.