S. Muthamizh, a resident of the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB) tenements in Kannagi Nagar who recently completed her Class 12, has always dreamt of joining a college.
However, her family situation almost made her give up the dream. With her father being disabled, her mother, who works as a housekeeping staff, is the sole breadwinner of the family.
“I have a younger sister in school. Unfortunately, my Class 12 marks were not as good as I expected. My mother was worried that she will not be able to manage my college expenses,” said Muthamizh and added that she considered dropping the idea of joining a college and take up a job instead to support her mother.
That is when she heard about Mudal Thalaimurai Trust, run by E. Marisamy, a resident of Kannagi Nagar. The organisation, formerly known as Abdul Kalam People Welfare Association, has been working in the locality towards preventing students from dropping out of school and supporting them to go to college.
With the assurance that her college expenses will be taken care of, the trust helped Muthamizh apply to two colleges. Mr. Marisamy said the trust has identified and helped 52 students this year to apply to college, almost all of whom would have otherwise given up education due to their family situation. “They will be the first one to go to college in their families,” he said.
As finishing Class 12 itself was a struggle for most of them amid trying circumstances in their families, he said many did not score high marks. “The first problem is the lack of awareness. Because of the marks, their families immediately think that they will not get admission to government colleges and have to pay more in self-financing colleges,” he said.
The trust has helped them identify the correct government and government-aided colleges and courses, where they have a high probability of getting admission. “If some of them did not get those seats, we will help them join private colleges with the support of many of our donors who are willing to take care of the expenses,” he said. The trust recently began work for setting up a skill development centre in Kannagi Nagar with the support of TNUHDB.
