Meet the Khammam teacher who distributes masks to students for free

Hyderabad: A school teacher has embarked on a unique journey to make instant masks and supply them to the students writing exams in Vemsoor Mandal of Telangana.

Every day, Riyaz is supplying masks to around 600 students for free in Vemsoor Mandal

“ I make masks at my home. I use materials like Tissue paper, rubber bands and stapler pins and make the instant mask. My whole family sits down together and helps me in this endeavor. It costs me around Rs 500-600 a day,” he said

There are two exam centers in Vemsoor Mandal of Khammam District. Every day he visits the centers and distributes the masks free of coast. “I visit both examination centers to distribute masks among the children,” he said.

Riyaz and his family takes due care of hygiene before making the masks so that the students writing exam remain safe from any infection.

“I wash my hands and clean the work station before making masks. We ourselves wear a mask while making them. We make a pack of 10 masks and wrap them in newspapers. On the first day, we distributed the masks outside the center. But as it was getting crowded, we started distributing them in exam halls through invigilator,” he said

Initially, Riyaz, who teaches Hindi from class 6 to 10 at the ZPHS, Kunchaparthy, thought to distribute masks among the children of his school but changed his mind after realizing that everyone needs them in the area

“The present situation encouraged me to do this. I am trying to contribute a bit to the society. I initially thought of distributing the masks only in my school. Later I decided to supply masks to all the children writing exams,” he said

Hailed as a hero, Riyaz has got a tremendous response from the children and their parents. “A doctor inaugurated the distribution programme. He was inspired to the extent that he also started distributing masks," he said.

Since the SSC Examinations have been postponed, Riyaz has decided to stock the masks. “I have kept the masks ready for the upcoming exams as well. People from different mandals are also asking me for the masks. There are 12 schools in Vemsoor Mandal. My colleagues and the school staff are helping me with the distribution,” he said.