Though she is technically a computer engineer, Veena Senan spends most of her time learning the background of students in rural Kerala. She works as a volunteer for the Rural Institute for Standard Education (RISE), an NGO which works for providing an international-level of education to the rural community. Senan, who is now pursuing a PG diploma at KELTRON (education wing of Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation Limited) in Thiruvanathapuram juggles her time between studies and community service.
Her work with RISE is given priority as she works for the cause of standardising education in remote pockets of the state. She travels to schools in backward areas and does a background study of the performance of the students there. She also prepares a syllabus for these students by finding thrust areas and subjects in which they are lacking. “The work with the NGO started off as a programme in my free time, but later on I understood the importance of the work I was doing and spent more time and energy towards it,” says Senan.
She has also worked extensively on the displacement of natives caused by the Vizhinjam Container Terminal, Kerala. “My inspiration to do community service basically comes from the kind of environment I was brought up in. My relatives are my inspiration. And my aim is to inspire children to learn,” she says. She considers her education at the Center for Research and Education for Social Transformation (CREST) a turning point in her life. She now comes back to CREST as a mentor once in a while.
Her dream is to create a company along with her friends and use the profits to promote students of rural pockets by providing them education. “Only through education can community achieve something. There should be no discrimination in the dissemination of education,” adds Senan, standing tall for the cause.
— raghuram@newindianexpress.com
