This is a play school by day and a tuition centre by evening.
The Akshara Play School in Mylapore has opened its doors for members of Mylapore Club to conduct tuition classes for underprivileged students appearing for their Class X Board exams.
This initiative is however not new — for close to 10 years now, the play school has been providing space on the second floor for free tuition classes. The room has been furnished with tables and chairs.
R. Ravi, the trustee of Sports Trust, Mylapore Club, decided to offer free after-school classes for Corporation and government school students when one of his staff told him of the amount of money he spent on tuitions for his daughter.
“He was spending Rs. 500 per subject. His salary was just Rs. 7,000. It was to help such people that we decided to offer free tuitions,” says Ravi, who put forth the idea to Jayashree and Mukundhan, founders of Akshara Play School, who immediately got on board.
Getting good teachers was a huge challenge.
“We were lucky to find two teachers, Muthu Kumar for science and Anantha Narayanan for maths, who were as dedicated to the cause as we are,” says Ravi.
In the first year, members launched a campaign to get students to attend these classes.
“We visited schools in the neighbourhood and asked them to send poor-performing students. At first, both the school and the parents were not willing to believe that the tuitions were really being offered for free. Very few students joined,” he adds.
In the next year, word started to spread about the classes and more students started enrolling for the classes.
“We have around 50 students every year and we are happy to say that all our students have done well in the Board exams,” he adds.
The Club next plans to start tuitions for Class XII students too. Classes are held from June to March.
