Kalvi Thunai

Supported by: Wipro Cares

About Kalvi Thunai

Kalvi Thunai was established in January 2014 located at Perur Pachapalayam, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. We are a registered Public Charitable Trust with 80G Registration. It operates from its own well-equipped premises.

Kalvi Thunai has four trustees on board, ably supported by a competent and experienced Management Team from various walks of life; everyone with a keen desire to support the needy with School Education and Skill Development for better employability. We were indeed happy to receive the support from WIPRO Foundation and an assurance from our regular donors to their continued support.

New approaches adopted in response to COVID

Then, the unexpected happened. Due to COVID-19, we had to close the center on 25 March 2020.  We quickly got our teachers together and assured them their fixed salary will be paid. They formed a small group and spoke to the children over phone. Unfortunately, most of our children do not have smartphones. So, it was only a chat over a normal phone.

After 2 months, the gravity of the pandemic set in. We quickly appointed a new support staff, Ms. Sindhu Thankappan. Lockdown was the time when our students missed the face-to-face coaching and learning offered by Kalvi Thunai.

Lockdown Diaries includes life without gadgets, how our students live a simple fulfilling life engaging in various outdoor games, participating in the household activities, creating a clean environment etc. This was a strong message to the world to be content and be a responsible citizen. Using the help from Sindhu, our students used art to express their thoughts and feelings about the pandemic.

Through social media, we have reached out to a segment of students who use their hand skills to be gainfully employed. We started classes for aari work and costume jewelry. We also taught basics in Computer and Spoken English.

Our flagship and most rewarding program i.e., evening tuition to the government schoolchildren was completely closed.  COVID-19 put our operations in total disarray.  We had to optimize our resources before we started guiding students through online mode, wherever possible.  In cases where it was not possible, our tutors went across to the students’ homes to teach them.

Our teachers helped our students learn their lessons in small groups at their homes. The teachers visited the children and interacted with their parents. We helped them with some basic needs. Due to lockdown, we could not conduct regular classes. We have kept on hold 4 teachers; we have assured them that they will be back to work once we reopen our school for the lower classes. We have added two new educators to the team, viz. Sindhu Thankappan and O. Premkumar. Sindhu is helping us reach our students through social media and Premkumar is helping us counsel students to join vocational training and help them get suitable jobs.

Other challenges

Due to the pandemic, many of the parents lost their jobs. Their children in 10^th standard and above took up some odd jobs with a fixed salary. As a part of our fieldwork, we are in touch with the parents and students to persuade them to re-join the school and complete their 12^th standard.

Besides the field visits by the Trustee and Management team, our Student Counsellor Premkumar and Coordinator Boopathi are on the job to persuade them to consider quitting the job and returning to school. We have succeeded with a few and the efforts are ongoing. Both Prem and Boopathi gel very well with the parents, as they themselves are first generation graduates. The parents are willing to give them a patient hearing. We will continue this effort and use the best means to get them to join vocational courses.