PANAJI: The unrelenting pandemic has severely impacted the educational aspirations of children and youngsters.
The worst hit are those from economically backward backgrounds.
Realising how this can impact the future of these children, five young professionals based in Goa have joined hands to trace such kids and extend free tutoring to bring them back on track.
The group plans to travel the distance to the children’s homes in rural and interior areas of Goa, once the pandemic restrictions are eased, and provide them with the required training to bridge the gap.
IT professional Neil Salunkhe is even looking forward to training those from poor families who want to crack competitive exams.
“We are five of us at the moment, but we are working towards adding more ‘teachers’ to our network,” said Britona-based Nadia D’Souza, who works in the recruitment sector.
“We already have three children studying in Class VI, VII, VIII from one family.
The parents have five sons and are struggling to keep up with their academics during the pandemic.” It was her cousin, Panaji-based Feliza Goes, who is training to be a teacher, who first brought up the idea of helping students cope with the void in education left by the pandemic.
“In the midst of the pandemic, some parents have lost their jobs or income.
On the other hand, the children are struggling with online classes.
There are orphanages out there where children may not be able to afford the tutoring they require to cope.
We are looking forward to helping such students as we spread the word around.
We will go to the location once the situation improves and even provide one-on-one online tutoring wherever needed,” D’Souza said.
Nadia and Goes began looking for like-minded and qualified persons online, who, like them, had some experience in tutoring children.
And they connected with Salunkhe and two other friends.
“As we are trying to contact needy students and qualified professionals, we are in the process of holding meetings within the tutors’ group to decide our strength of subjects.
We want to help students in villages and remote areas, and those studying in government schools.
They will require this assistance the most.
But as these children and their parents are not on social media, the biggest challenge for us right now is to identify them,” Salunkhe said.
He said that if the village is too remote, then the tutors will look at visiting or staying in the area at least for a week to help the students come on par to the minimum level for their class.
“During the first lockdown the need was different.
People were struggling to get hold of one square meal a day.
But this time around the government is providing enhanced rations and other facilities.
In the second wave, children are suffering the most in coping with their education,” MTech degree-holder Salunkhe said.
D’Souza said that they are also open to assisting the students with books and other educational requirements if they are found unable to afford it.
“We will help the students in whichever subjects they are lagging in and provide tutoring in all, if that is what they require,” D’Souza said.
Young professionals offer free tuition to poor, rural students
