Children living in shanties in Bagmari are getting something to eat during the lockdown because some teachers of Scottish Church College have extended a helping hand to feed as many as they can.

The teachers have raised a corpus to help children and their families in slums off Canal East Road, in north Calcutta, which they had adopted two years ago.

A college teacher said the children are students of primary school called Sabuj Mon, located barely a kilometre from the college on Duff Street.

They began putting together resources last month and so far have delivered kits with rice, pulse, egg, soybean and other items on five occasions at an interval of nine days.

Children aged between 5 and 10 come to the school along with their parents and the non-teaching staff hand over the kits to the parents.

The teachers who stay closeby help the non-teaching staff in the distribution.

The school was set up at a college property at 27 Canal East Road two years ago, around the time the slum was adopted as part of the college’s outreach activity.

Arpita Mukerji, the principal of the college, said they were concerned about the health of the children and were carrying out the drive to help them maintain their health amid the raging pandemic.

“We know how poor and helpless they are. It was time we did something for them to help them survive the crisis,” vice-principal Supratim Das said.

Mukerji said, when the kids came to the school before the start of the lockdown, they would get a steady meal.

“But now that has stopped. If they don’t get the nutrients steadily, their immunity level would drop and that would leave them vulnerable. We are trying our best to prevent it,” she told Metro.