Southern spice: Sivakumar honours students

Tamil actor Sivakumar presented 25 students an award of Rs10,000 (Dh614) each on July 6 at the 35th anniversary celebrations of his charitable trust in Chennai.

Among them was this year’s state topper, S. Sushanthi, and five visually challenged students.

Sri Sivakumar Educational and Charitable Trust also donated Rs100,000 to ‘Thai Tamil Thodakkapalli’, (an educational institution in Tamil Nadu supporting poor students) and Rs200,000 to ‘Vazhai’, an NGO assisting first generation learners.

Started in 1979 by Sivakumar, the trust has supported the education of less privileged and visually challenged students.

Since 2010, Sivakumar’s sons and popular Tamil actors, Surya and Karthi, have also been involved in the trust’s activities under a new name — Agaram Foundation.

Speaking on the occasion, Surya said: “It is not difficult to start something but to continue doing that is important and hard. This is what my father told me when I expressed my interest in the trust.”

There are plans to set up a training centre for students under the Agaram Foundation at Maduranthagam, around 80km from Chennai. The site for this centre, two acres of land, has been donated by the Sri Sairam group of institutions. For more, go to agaram.in.