Recognition for PNLIT Volunteer Teacher

It is with great pride that we share this news -  the Millennium Elders' Forum has bestowed  PNLIT volunteer, Mr. C.S. N. Iyer with the MEF Unsung Heroes Award 2017. He was felicitated at a glittering function held last month. 

We remember how he was one of the first persons to respond when we sent an appeal in Aug. 2012 seeking volunteers to teach underprivileged children from the neighbourhood. His only hesitation was that he did not know Kannada. Also, having lived in US for most of his life, his English may be difficult for the children to understand. We coaxed him by saying that the children might as well learn to speak American English than none at all. He was a natural teacher and the students took to him. 

We had to discontinue our teaching programme at the lake but there was no stopping Mr. Iyer. He continues to teach and guide new batches of students. 

Kudos to you, "Tuition Uncle!" The MEF Unsung Heroes Award may be at the neighbourhood level but you are certainly making a difference to many young lives.  

Best regards,

PNLIT team

PNLIT Teach Program: Meeting Sadiqa

Of our three students who completed 12th last year, Deepu joined an engineering college and Ramya, B.Com, both taking a step closer to achieving their dream of becoming an Engineer and Chartered Accountant. Sadiqa had wanted to do Medicine but not only did she get 71% in the board exam, her CET ranking too was disappointing. Ever since the results were announced, there was no news of her. Of the three, she had been the quietest and the brightest but perhaps she wasn't as lucky, we thought. Yesterday while waiting for a bus, she joined me with a big, happy smile. We boarded the bus together and caught up with lost time. 

Sadiqa said she had grown to hate Biology and hence done poorly in the exams. She took time to decide which subjects she liked the best and changed her direction from Medicine. She joined Vijaya College for B.Sc in Statistics, Maths and Computers. She likes Maths but finds Statistics even more interesting and wants to do Masters in this. The once quiet girl rattled off all this in excellent English oblivious of other passengers in the crowded bus looking curiously at us. When questioned she said that at +2, the teachers had taught in English. Her language skill developed and so did her interest in reading books in English and Hindi. 

She is grateful for the coaching PNLIT had arranged for her and is now taking classes for other underprivileged children! The classes are being held in the veranda of a house in Arekere Mico Layout. She gets a small amount for this. More importantly, Sadiqa has realized that she likes to teach and wants to do so professionally after her post graduation. 

At PNLIT we only facilitated the classes. The entire credit of moulding these young achievers go to their teachers -  Ramakrishna Rao, Lalitha Kamath,  Beena Ramesh, Hema Nair from South City, Sudha Veeramani, Vijetha Sanjay, Dr. C.S.N Iyer, Seema Doraiswamy from Brigade Millennium, Vivek Krishna from RBI Layout and Ancy Tom all the way from BTM Layout. Kudos!

For various reasons including lack of manpower to coordinate, our classes at the lake programme has been irregular, but after meeting Sadiqa, I wonder if we should resume it actively again. We can perhaps help more Sadiqas, Deepus and Ramyas? 

Best

Usha

Our triumphant trio

We are delighted by the performance of our three students in the II P.U.C. exams. All of them got over 70% with Deepubai getting 75%, Sadiqa 71% and Ramya 72%. 

Living in the hutments on the lake bund, they joined our Classes at the Lake program (Teach program) three years ago. Thanks to V.P. Karthik, now pursuing PhD at IIT, Chennai, Anisha Kaul and Swathi Jayakumar, the girls' performances were beyond their own expectations in Std 10 as well. 

Our teachers not only coached them but also encouraged them to dream big. Deepu wants to do engineering and is awaiting the CET results. Sadiqa wants to become a medical doctor while Ramya is looking to become a Chartered Accountant like her teacher, Lalitha Kamath. 

Kudos to these girls and more so to their teachers who took time out from their busy schedules to help out these children. We salute each of them - Lalitha Kamath, Ramakrishna Rao, Hema Nair from South City, Sudha Veeramani, Vijetha Sanjay, Dr. C.S.N Iyer, Seema Doraiswamy from Brigade Millennium, Vivek Krishna from RBI Layout and Ancy Tom all the way from BTM Layout. Ancy is particularly delighted with her student, Deepu, for scoring 98% in Computer Science. A big thanks to all the teachers.

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." - Nelson Mandela

The PNLIT team, Deepu, Sadiqa and Ramya