Techies turn mentors

Techies in the city just found a novel way to put their weekends to good use. Different groups of young professionals can now be spotted at schools for the underprivileged, conducting classes on personality development, career management or communication skills.

For Niranjan Agarwal, his tryst with philanthropy began when as an engineering student, he volunteered with the Vivekananda Public School. At the time he helped the students by clearing their doubts since they could not afford tuitions. Now, a business consultant with a leading IT firm, Niranjan spends every Saturday with these children and helps them solve their math and science question papers. “They hardly have regular teachers, so I also try to inculcate the habit of self-study in them by organising self-learning activities and instill confidence in them,” he adds.

Since these children come from a poor economic background, they are deprived of the good things in life, feel most of techies. Through their endeavours, they hope to provide them an opportunity to avail of good education, apart from learning basic etiquette.

But it’s not always all about academics. Several techies also focus on the overall development of the children through activities like personality development and computer education. “They are being taught science, math and English in their schools. Hence, we try and help them with subjects that do not fall in their regular academic curriculum,” says Ravi Rambathla, an Oracle employee. He added they also donate old computers and teach them how to operate. Some of them conduct classes on communication skills to help these children blend seamlessly with their more privileged counterparts.

However, most of these youngsters have varied reasons for being a part of the literacy programmes. Nischal Mothkuri, an employee of Microsoft, explains, “My father hails from a small village and studied at a school that only had classes till fifth standard. Thankfully for him, the school inspector sent him to a nearby town for further studies and in time he became an engineer. but none of my dad’s family members are well educated. Helping these children and providing them the means to a better life, is immensly satisfaction.”

Manish Kumar who hails from a lower-middle-class background struggled his way up to procure an engineering degree and secure a job with an IT company. By spending time with the children he feels he is helping more people like himself. “It’s my way of ensuring that these children have a better life than I did as a kid and have an easy path to success,” he avers.