Funding Tuition Centres

Most schools in villages around Pondicherry close by 16:00 and kids are back home soon after. Many of these homes are often without electricity or adequate lighting/space for them to continue studying, doing their homework, etc. RCP (Mid-Town) decided to fund tuition centres, which would provide a conducive environment for the children to study outside of school hours.

Teachers who could provide tuitions were identified and asked to conduct classes from 18:00-20:00. The results were very encouraging indeed; what started as a pilot test was drawing more and more kids from the surrounding villages. Soon, RCP (Mid-Town) had to rent additional space and identify more teachers. Taking note of this wonderful initiative, an NGO from Belgium took charge of funding, as well as running the entire project. This ongoing program has run successfully for several years now.

This project evolved from multiple small tuition centres to a large privately funded school; located at Kombakkam (~5 km from Pondicherry town), this school is known today as the Gandhiji School, which caters to the educational needs of 200+ children.

Chetak’s Value Addition

At his own expense, Vikram took the initiative to visit the funding NGO in Belgium on two separate occasions. Thanks to his command over the French language Vikram could effortlessly communicate with the donors, understand their expectations and intentions and establish a friendly work relationship. Secondly because of his prior experience in working with numerous organizations he was able to quickly facilitate the trust building process between the two establishments involved. His personal skills and work ethic soon lead him to become one of the trustees of this institution. And now the Belgian NGO relies heavily on Vikram’s experience and advice.

Memories