When G. Sathiya was advised by her teachers to join engineering after her class XII, she laughed off the suggestion. For someone who was finding it hard to even get one meal a day, the idea of going to college seemed like a far-fetched dream.
“Since my schools days, I knew I cannot go to college because we never had enough money for living,” she says. With only her mother, a daily labourer, to support her, she finished her school education by borrowing money from her neighbours. But, when she heard about Vidhai, a project of Agaram foundation, she decided to seek help. Three months later, she earned a seat in SRM Engineering College. For K. Samiraj, from a village near Dharmapuri, the support from Vidhai would mean seeing through the education of his son Saravana Kumar. A first-generation student, Saravana Kumar is now attending his MBBS classes at Government Medical College, Dharmapuri. “We have no power at home and live on a single meal a day. My son never complained. He scored 94 per cent in class XII,” says Mr. Samiraj.
Saravana Kumar and Sathiya were among the 160 students selected by Vidhai, a project to support the college education of underprivileged students. Meritorious and socio-economically backward students were selected from across the State through a rigorous screening. With an initial corpus of Rs.1 crore, the project took off in January to support a small number of students.
“We never thought it would grow into a movement. Agaram is a foundation to support school children and Vidhai was set up when I met students who were grappling with poverty and yet, had a deep desire to study further,” says actor Suriya, the founder of Agaram. “These are the students who braved all odds and made it at the higher secondary exams. We do not want their hopes to die,” he adds. Apart from financial support, Vidhai also offers counselling for parents.
Vijay TV will air a programme ‘Vidhai-Suryavudan Oru Vetri Payanam,' on August 15 at 9 a.m., which will have the selected students sharing their dreams and aspirations with Suriya.
“The project will make a difference in the lives of these students. We are glad to be partnered with Agaram in this project,” says Vijay TV's General Manager K. Sriram.
