Doing a world of good

Dr Srikanth Mandumula, a consultant radiologist based in London and his friend Dr Martin Klein, ran the Mumbai Marathon on January 21. The duo sported ‘Empowerment through Education’ (ETE) t-shirts to raise awareness about the cause. ETE is a registered UK-based charity. 

In Dr Srikanth’s words, “Our aim at ETE is to globally empower underprivileged children with education. My inspiration came from my grandfather and my parents. My grandfather and his brother donated land in their native village of Talakondapalli for a school to be built. Talakondapalli is situated 70 km from Hyderabad. I established Dr Suguna Ram Mohan Rao Educational Society six years ago in memory of my mother and work closely with ETE. At the outset, we undertook infrastructural developmental programmes at the Zilla Parishad High School in Talakondapa-lli, including provision of drinking water, toilets for girls, water for toilets, benches, and electricity for the entire school. This led to significant improvement in attendance especially of the girl students. We then wanted to enhance the student experience in the government school. Hence, we built two purpose-built blocks and equipped the library, science laboratory, computer lab, and audio-visual digital room. We also organised a mobile science lab to train the teachers. This has stimulated students to aspire for higher education. We provide scholarship for top two students every year for higher education.”

ETE also provides financial assistance for higher education to the children of Rainbow Homes, an NGO  providing shelter to orphans and abandoned children. So far more than 40 children have been supported.