Four engineering graduates and civil service aspirants have decided to bridge the virtual gap among students who have to attend online classes in a small village of Thondaiman Oorani in Pudukkottai.

Aravind, Vignesh, Bhavanishankar and Sarathas have prepared a time table and conduct classes in turns. A group of 12 students of Class X residing in the village sit outside their houses at 10 am to attend the morning session which ends at 2 pm. On the other hand, 28 more students from classes VI to IX continue to attend the classes that go on for four hours.

As soon as schools started giving out textbooks, the four friends started conducting classes on a July morning. Their students include children of farmworkers with a poor financial condition which restricts them from purchasing smartphones. The open spaces have been transformed into classrooms by the teachers where they have arranged for notebooks, blackboards and pens for the students.

The young tutors provide more attention to students studying in Classes IX and X and every Saturday tests are mandatory for them to give. The New Indian Express quoted Aravind as saying, ‘While preparing for TNPSC exams, we were helped by our seniors. This prompted us to help children belonging to our college.’

Vignesh, a mechanical engineer says, ‘This is a way of giving back to society. Class VI to X syllabus is very useful for us in our Group 1 exam of TNPSC.’ He also spoke about the symbiotic nature of the exercise.

There are over 1,500 residents in the village, out of which most of them are farm labourers and MGNREGA workers. ‘Two of my daughters are attending classes every day. I was initially very worried as we could not make them attend online classes. These youths are Godsend for parents,’ Soundaravalli, a villager said.

Also Read: Coconut Leaf Straw: Bengaluru Professor’s Innovation Is Now Global Brand