The company he works for takes its CSR very seriously, especially its work with Panchayat and Corporation schools in the city. But S. Rajmohan has gone that extra mile. He has pledged two hours every week to the students of the Panchayat Union Middle School at Keeranatham and trains them in Judo and Karate. Not just the Keernatham school, Rajmohan coaches children of the Ganapathy Government school as well.
Twenty-one-year-old Rajmohan is himself a gold medallist in martial arts. In 2009, he won the National Championship in Judo at Jaipur and, in 2010, a gold medal at an international championship in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
He takes the children who show an aptitude in judo and karate to the Olympic Martial Arts Academy, the institution where he trained, and gives them extra coaching. In all, he has given free coaching to 42 students from these schools. And his wards have done him proud.
In the seven months that he has been training the Keernatham students, they have won championships in District, State and national levels. C.M. Mahalakshmi of Keernatham Panchayat School won National Level Gold in Karate. And the others have won any number of gold, silver and bronze medals in the District and State levels. “I am grateful to my employers who have allowed me to pursue this interest. But for their encouragement and support I would probably not have done anything like this.” Rajmohan says he has a dream — to ensure these children make it to the Olympic Games.
Mr. S. Raja, Manager CSR of CRI Pumps has this to say about Rajmohan. “He works in our quality department. He first approached us and told us about his own prowess in Karate and Judo and how he wanted to share it with the students of the schools we worked with. We discussed it with the HR department and allowed him to give two hours every week to coach children. The commitment of Rajmohan and the response of these children, who come from a rural background, has been tremendous. The parents have been most supportive too.
“Rajmohan is an example in our Employee Volunteering Programme and he has motivated others in the company to do similar things. An IT team imparts skills to children, the marketing team imparts value education to them and various others, depending on their interests, work with the children. Rajmohan will soon coach children of our other schools as well. Our company provides him with the time and the resources. The rest is all his effort.”
