With their perceived predilection for premium private schools for their children, techies are rarely associated with government schools.
But a bunch of techies based in Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram is out to overturn that perception, which they describe as cliched.
Organised under Prathidwani, a collective for the welfare of IT employees having a presence in all IT parks in the State, they formed a forum called ‘My Government School’ four years back. It now has 30-odd techies who send their children to government schools.
“The objective goes beyond simply admitting children in government schools but to become participants in the uplift of their general standards by playing an active role in the Parents Teachers Associations (PTAs). We are also doing our bit to channelise the corporate social responsibility funds of IT companies for developing the physical infrastructure of the government schools,” said Ajith Anirudhan, a member of My Government School forum.
He said that there is a perceptible change in the outlook towards government schools, which have received quite a facelift in terms of their physical infrastructure in last few years. My Government School will organise more events at Technopark to increase its reach once the pandemic subsides. Before the lockdown, children were brought on field trips to the Technopark campus.
The forum also serves as a bridge to link up with the other initiatives of Prathidwani. For instance, on Saturday a bunch of techies part of Varakoottam, Prathidwani’s forum for arts, were roped in for beautifying the kindergarten classrooms of the Government UP School, Karyavattom.
With remote learning being in vogue, the collective mobilised funds and distributed 50-odd televisions and 70-odd smartphones for the eligible students from the government schools in the neighbourhood of the Technopark campus.
“Many members of My Government School had been to government schools and know first hand the advantage of that schooling. But somehow, the initiative hasn’t quite taken off in other IT parks,” said Bineesh Nagoorkhani, who is now the PTA president of Government UP School, Karyavattom.
Mr. Anirudhan observed that the government schools ensured a secular and grounded upbringing. “People need to break free of the ghettoisation engendered by caste and class to see its benefits. They need to shed the perception that my children should move in a crowd of a certain class to dream big and succeed,” he said.
