BENGALURU: Great things have humble beginnings. This is true in the case of the United Karnataka Charitable Trust which embarked on a mission to educate children from economically weaker sections.
With only a handful of students in the beginning, the trust started free coaching classes for Class 10 students in 2007. Later, after noticing the progress in students, many parents from poor backgrounds saw it as an opportunity for their children to get free coaching. Students, who were forced to discontinue studies owing to financial reasons, have now joined the classes.
The number of students has grown over the past 10 years and the trust now has 80 students. Most of them are from Nagwara and nearby areas.
Since the beginning, the trust has attained cent per cent results. The results have translated into students becoming engineers, a few pursuing postgraduate courses and landing jobs in MNCs or moving abroad.
“The classes have really helped us as we can’t afford tuition due to financial constraints. At other tuition centres, they charge between Rs 700 and Rs 1,000 per subject a month,” said Sania Taj, a daughter of an autorickshaw driver.
Shabana Sultana too had the same constraint. Her father who works as a lorry driver was forced to put her into a BBMP Girls’ School in Fraser Town due to their financial situation. “If my daughter gets good marks, I will work hard to support her further education,” says Siraj.
For Dhanush N of St Aloysius School, the classes helped him improve his marks. “Earlier, I used to just scrape through in most subjects but I have gradually improved. In my recent tests, I scored 65 per cent. I hope to improve more before my final exams,” he said.
Determined to impart free education to underprivileged children, the trust is fighting against all odds to keep afloat with limited resources.
“Managing salaries and room rent become a tough task sometimes. We have also arranged for CCTV cameras in the classrooms to monitor the classes,” says Dr Shaikh Ismail, vice-president of the trust.
“We are striving to provide a platform for students from economically weaker sections to do well in studies,” says Nagraj, trust vice-chairman.
He said that in order to contribute to family income, many students discontinue their studies and take up odd jobs. The trust works towards motivating such students to continue their education by organising personality development sessions.
The trust has hired the services of four qualified teachers for the job. Each teacher is tasked with four classes a week. “We give our best efforts in imparting knowledge to students. After we complete the syllabus by December-end, we are now focusing on rigorous revisions which are key to success in exams,” says Amanulla Khan, who teaches Social Studies.
The trust plans to open similar coaching classes for II PUC. “If all goes as per plan we will open II PUC classes from this academic year,” says Inayatulla, president of the trust.