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Siva Swamy started by saying, “We have realized that the children of daily wage workers, who go to government schools, have no one to help them with school work.”
“They don’t understand what is being taught in school and they can’t complete their homework, so they are afraid to go to school,” he says.
Swamy and Mahalakshmi, a retired couple in Pachapalayam in Coimbatore, run Kalvi Thunai – a free education center for underprivileged children.
“We focus on ensuring that they review today’s lesson and that they complete their assignments,” adds the 74-year-old.
Founded in 2014, Kalvi Thunai provides after school support to students from grades 4 to 12, helping with homework, clarifying difficult concepts, organizing extracurricular activities and outings, and providing support and guidance to students for all-round development.
The NGO was started with an initial investment of INR 40,000 from the couple, who purchased and renovated the education center building. They have now donated it to Kalvi Thunai, ensuring that it will continue to function after their lives. The center has 136 students and 11 paid teachers.
More than 1,000 students have passed through the center, of whom at least 350 now have jobs.
Comprehensive development
After spending several years working, Swami and Mahalakshmi moved into a retirement home in 2010. To spend their time after retirement, the couple had a simple idea – to give back to the community.
Mahalakshmi, who also works as a Samaritan, counseling people with depression, began homeschooling the children of their helpers, and the couple saw their improvement over time. Inspired, they decided to immerse themselves in social service, buying the building and setting up an educational centre. “I realized that the focus should be on educating deserving children,” says Mahalakshmi. Soon the number of students began to increase, and they started hiring teachers as well.
In the early days, the couple’s biggest challenge was convincing prospective students to come and study. Everyone wants Lakshmi (Hindu Goddess of Wealth), they don’t want Sarasvati (Hindu goddess of knowledge),” says the swami. It took some counseling to show parents and children the importance of studying rather than making them go to work. “They just need a nudge, a little help,” adds Mahalakshmi, “because their parents work from morning to evening and they can’t help with their studies.
As word spread and more students joined, the center began to build a structure. Today, she divides her work into two groups — one for children in grades 4-8, and one for grades 9-12.
The main focus is on making study materials accessible to the students, making the study process enjoyable and something they can look forward to. “Because of the way maths is taught in schools, kids start to hate the material. We make sure they start liking it,” Swami says.
To offer a holistic experience, the center also uses several assistive learning technologies. Every Friday, the center organizes storytelling sessions and an audiovisual program for the younger batch. Once a month, it happens for the oldest batch. This covers a range of topics, depending on the things they study in school.
Every month they hold a cultural event, such as the Yoga Day in June, the celebration of Kamaraj’s birthday in July, and the celebration of Independence Day earlier this month. The center takes care of the children in other ways too, giving them new clothes for Pongal and giving them healthy snacks every day.
Besides classroom education, Kalvi Thunai also focuses on extracurricular activities. They run summer camps where they take students on trips to places of interest around the city. For example, they take students to a farm and talk about organic farming. “It is just like the experience you get in a regular school which would cost Rs 2 lakh or Rs 3 lakh. We are trying to do it for free,” Swami says. games, and more.”Focusing on extracurricular activities expands their world,” he adds.
They claim to have a percent success rate for students in grades 10 and 12.
Along the way, another challenge has been ensuring former students return to school after the COVID lockdown is lifted. Many of the older children had taken odd jobs like working at a petrol pump or a roadside shop, which paid around 5,000 rupees a month. “Once you start having that kind of money on hand, you don’t want to go back to studying,” says Swamy. By talking with students and their parents, and explaining the long-term benefits of investing time in education, Kalvi Thunai was able to get 30 students back into class.
Prepare for success
For students who have completed class 12, Kalvi Thunai also offers vocational training and soft skills development courses. During the day, when the schools are on and the center is empty, they teach courses such as spoken English, customer service, and basics of computers such as MS Office. Other courses include Tally, Aari Embroidery, Corel Draw, and Photoshop.
The center also offers foundation courses for chartered accountancy, which can cost around 50,000 rupees in the city. At Kalvi Thunai, students can access this course for Rs 4,500.
In parallel, they are taught soft skills so that they can better integrate into an office environment. They lack office etiquette. “We teach them the culture of the office,” says Swami.
Vignesh K is a former student of the Education Center and the first in his family to graduate. He went there during seasons 11 and 12 and attended a spoken English course. “I am from a middle-class family and I was studying in a Tamil medium school. My English communication skills were poor and I could not afford the lessons, but this kind of free center helped me,” says the 23-year-old. With the center’s guidance, he can build a strong foundation and focus better on his education, and eventually find a job. Today, he works in L&T’s technology services division.
With all the various activities, it costs Rs 1 lakh per month to run the entire operation. Funding comes from partnerships with the CSR units of companies such as Bosch and Wipro, and through private donors.
As Kalvi Thunai faces new challenges today, such as finding professional help managing their website and social media, they continue to educate, inspire and build their children’s confidence every day.
Edited by Yoshita Rao
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