THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Thiruvananthapuram native Dileesh Viswanath who is pursuing his MS in project management from the University of Liverpool has been chosen to the National Union of Students, a confederation of close to 600 student unions in the United Kingdom. Dileesh, 37, was elected unanimously for the national students’ meet and he polled the most votes for the liberation meet under the ‘black’ category.
The NUS uses black as a political definition to represent students of African, Arab, Asian and Caribbean descent. Dileesh, who is from Pettah, has been a team leader right from his school days at St Joseph’s School. He recalls that it was his pre-degree days at Mar Ivanios College that moulded him to take part in student politics.
Later, he pursued his BTech from Cusat and worked in Gujarat and later in Dubai.
Dileesh wanted to pursue his master’s from abroad without having to burden his parents. His late father, Thoppil Viswanathan, was a councillor of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation and his mother Sobhana is a homemaker.
After working in Dubai for 15 years with a ship-building company, Dileesh flew to the UK. This was when he realized the hardships faced by international students. “The living costs in the UK have gone up due to inflation. I am financially stable, but every day I see the plight of international students.
Even with part-time jobs, they endure extreme hardships. So I decided to take part in the student organization election. I wish to bring changes by raising the issues of foreign students with the NSU and the UK government,” Dileesh told The New Indian Express over the phone.
Dileesh will be at the heart of the decision-making process, setting the direction and tone of the organisation’s work and making changes on a national scale. The liberation meet will be held next April in the UK.