Madurai :

The alumni of a government-aided school here, who are now working in various fields, have taken upon themselves the task of helping junior students who come from very poor backgrounds achieve heights in life through motivational and skill-building sessions.

The former students of APT Durairaj Higher Secondary School in Mela Anupanadi have formed an old students association called ‘Kash’, short for ‘knowledge, attitude, skill and honesty’. P Pandiarajan, the founder of the association, who works in the Ma Foi foundation in Virudhunagar, remembers that they enjoyed studying in the school.

“But when we went for interviews, we were looked down upon when we gave the name of school and we wanted to change this attitude,” he said.

Most of the students who come to this school come from Keeraithurai, an area notorious for its criminal activities. Their background and economic conditions made them difficult students, he said. “It is difficult to motivate them to make achievements, because they move around with a lot of school dropouts in their homes. We want them to become good citizens and do well in their lives, so we are doing our best,” he said.

About 150 former students, who had passed out from the school since 1985, are part of the association. “We tell our juniors that they can achieve anything if they have knowledge, attitude, skill and honesty (kash),” said Pandiarajan.

P Swaminathan, former student and a medical representative by profession, strives to motive the present-day students whenever possible. “From this year onwards, we will do it in a more organized manner. Earlier, we used to encourage them by gifting books and paying their fees, if their performance in studies was good,” he said.

At a motivation session held on Tuesday, Vignesh Manikandan,17, expressed his aim to become a sub inspector and also work to bring the alcohol menace in the state under control. “I see alcohol as the reason for all the crimes around me, and would like to live in an environment which is free of it,” he said. His friends Karthik Kumar and Muthukumar also talked about their future plans.

Pandiarajan said that they tried to give value-addition classes to the students of Class 8, skill training to those in Class 9 and hold discussions on job opportunities with the students who are preparing to sit for the public examinations. Old students Gurunathan and Shanmuvavel, who dropped out after the SSLC and are now working in shops, never miss an opportunity to talk to the students about the benefits of higher education, especially completing the Plus Two examinations with good results.

Assistant headmaster S Gowthaman said that they usually dealt with problematic children who came from below poverty line families and troubled families, but the sessions organized by the alumni students was showing a lot of development. “It is encouraging to see some of the students listen to the motivators with enthusiasm and also respond, something they never do in class. I am happy that our old students are showing the way to their juniors in this manner,” he added.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / TNN / February 04th, 2015