Kolkata, Nov 13 Holding placards and banners, privileged and underprivileged students participated in a walkathon here today.

Organised by the Smile Foundation, a non-profit organisation, the walkathon saw participation of about 500 students of different schools under its nationwide campaign- 'Be the Change'.

The campaign was an attempt to sensitise privileged masses about the plight of underprivileged school children.

"We do not have anything to sacrifice but we are doing some contribution to the poor children so that they can be educated well in the future and be satisfied and be successful forever," Priya Dutta Chowdhury, a participant.

"The foundation is doing this to give an opportunity to less fortunate students like us to come up in life so that the gap which is there between privileged and underprivileged is removed," said Arifa Khataoon, another participant.

The walkathon is being organised in nine cities including New Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Goa, Chennai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Vadodara and Nagpur.

The Smile Foundation is working for the upliftment of more than 100, 000 underprivileged children and youth across 21 states of India through more than 120 welfare projects on issues like education, healthcare and livelihood. By Ajitha Menon (ANI)