DC enters government schools in Chennai

Chennai: Students at the government high school at Mugalivakkam in Chennai are now thrilled at being able to read and even understand an English newspaper tha­nks to a unique initiative undertaken by two entrepreneurs who arr­anged for distribution of Deccan Chronicle every morning at their homes.

The ‘Read2Lead’ project was authored jointly by Bala Chandra he­a­d­ing Vernalis, a tra­n­snational software company and Mano Krishn­amo­orthy, director, Ind­icool Innova­tio­ns.

The Youth Exnora Intern­at­i­onal too has taken ac­tive role in this project launched at the Mug­ali­vakkam school a few da­ys ago.

“We plan to ex­tend this noble sch­e­me to other governme­nt schools also, so as to improve the English communication skills of their students”, said YEI chief Abdul Ghani at this launch function.

Explaining the importance of English learning, Bala Chandra said the government school students, who mostly did their schooling in Tamil medium, found it tough managing the in­it­ial phase of college ed­ucation, particularly the professional courses. 

“English language se­r­ves as a bridge to de­velopment for Tamil-me­­dium kids. Your gr­ow­th starts right now. Seize this opportunity to come up”, Bala Cha­ndra told the students.

Mano Krishn­am­oor­thy said he and Bala decided on the 'Read2­Lead' project after witnessing an inspiring event where a 72-year-old blind man was helping the society.

“We dec­ided to our bit by helping the government sc­h­ool kids to lea­rn En­glish while also improving their general kno­wl­edge.We chose Deccan Chronicle bec­au­se it’s easy to understand and quite interesting in content”.

He said volunteers would visit government sch­o­o­ls to help students im­p­rove their English skills.

Cavinkare executive vice-president S. Suresh exhorted the students to focus more on learning. “You alone are responsible for your progress while parents and teachers can only help”, he said.