Inspiring role models created from aspiring students
By Charanya Sreekirishnan
A lot of youths have big dreams, Dreams that may include becoming a doctor or engineer, a politician or a civil servant or aspirations of becoming a scientist or astronaut, Yet, family situations and backgrounds, caste and other issues hold sway like a storm cloud.
( Courtesy: Charanya Sreekirishnan )
Everyone needs an opportunity to succeed in life, education is that opportunity. Students from impoverished backgrounds spend most of their days helping their parents with chores and are entitled to child labour while other children of their age enjoy the freedom of learning and being educated together. On one hand, this is the case, whilst, on the other, most of the children in rural areas don’t even know the value of education.
S. Selvakumar- CEO of Maruthi Power control systems, founder, and chairman of Anandham foundation instituted in 2012, broke the barrier to these issues. A group of friends originally invested their own money to launch the foundation, Selvakumar said, “we did not go in search of money, but when visitors were invited to speak during the training sessions, they were moved by the idea and began investing, and the word spread and more people started investing.” Today, many individuals and companies are funding. With an ongoing business, on the other hand, Selvakumar dedicates 70% of his career time to the Anandham foundation.
( Courtesy : Charanya Sreekirishnan )
Selvakumar's dream to provide education seemed farfetched, the thing he noticed when he was travelling in quest of employment after receiving his degree at the age of 17 was that he did not have the luxury of staying at a hotel; instead, he shared bus stations with many other individuals. He believed that the reason was the lack of education and people not leading a holistic life. “People can be economically rich, nevertheless, where is the value that supports an individual?” he said, adding, “I made the decision to provide value education to transform the lives of young underprivileged students and to create a socially responsible and a happy living society, hence we gave the foundation the name Anandham.”
Anandham foundation, a windfall for aspiring students, gives hope to the students who believe that they are destined to lead a tragic life. This foundation aims to provide education only in the best colleges ranked top in the state – supporting approximately 550 students and reaching out to over 70,000 students from rural areas before now. The organization received over 2,500 applications this year, out of which they chose to short-list around 150 of the most deserving children. The group provides the most disadvantaged students who performed well on their examinations, with 100% financial support so they can pursue higher education without regard to costs. Furthermore, they’ve conducted motivational speeches, communication skill classes and educational programs since 2002 as training programs for employment development by experts in their respective fields. This foundation aims to develop future students into role models in their home villages, who will then serve as an inspiration and source of hope for other local youngsters. The plethora of services Anandham provides doesn’t end here. Each student is assigned a mentor to cater to their needs and wants further groom them for the future. The organization has a strict 5 step selection process which is solely done by the successful graduates sponsored by the Anandham foundation.
Anandham has transformed the lives of many youths who are now placed in high-profile companies and abroad. “The students have created a different mark transforming and setting a standard for the upcoming generation,” said the chairman. Anandham’s long-term goals include creating Anandham University which should serve as a model for other Indian universities in terms of what an educational institution should look like, he said, “it shouldn’t be a mark-producing factory, but a place that imparts knowledge and creates humans with values to enjoy a happy future.”
