A team of 10 Sri Lankan Tamil boys and girls at Anaiyur refugee camp here is running a BPO unit thanks to the district administration which has showed them the way for a better future.
The idea was mooted by the CEO of a Chennai-based BPO to collector U. Sagayam. The 10 Lankan Tamil graduates now run the unit with systems made available under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan scheme at Pandian Nedunchezhian corporation higher secondary school.
Started on January 2, 2012, they have drawn their first month salary — Rs 6,000 each — and all 10 want to spend it on “the education of our sisters, brothers and cousins”, beams Gajendini, a B.C.A. graduate.
K. Rameshkumar, who runs BPOs in Chennai and Bangkok, is giving them non-voice data entry orders and paying them. “When we started, some of them were new to computers. But they are fast learners and hard workers. Their performance is remarkably good,” he lauds.
The administration has used its good offices and got a separate building from Madurai corporation near the camp.
But from plumbing to networking the computers, the team would be doing it all by itself, says Santhanaraj, adept at hardware servicing.
Not eligible for loans, they are banking on the collector and sponsors, says Nagendran.
Team leader Satheeswaran, 21, from Mannar district, says they want to spread their wings, while special tahsildar (refugee camps) P. Tamilselvi puts in: “Twenty more from the other two camps in Uchapatti and Tiruvathavur will join them next month.”
