Stories from the ground

Towards a new life

Kamatchi says: From Cow shed to working on computers!

“My parents look after cattle which is the main source of income in our life.   I came to know about the PMSSS course of BPO through my friend in Puducherry. With permission from my parents and with the small savings out of my income I joined the course and trained under them . I am placed  in First Source Solutions for a monthly salary of Rs.4000/-.  I am happy and I take this opportunity to thank PMSSS and NASSCOM FOUNDATION for giving the poor like me, a beautiful chance to benefit out of it.  I pray for this project of PMSSS and NASSCOM Foundation to achieve greater heights  My hearty thanks and prayers to PMSSS and  NASSCOM FOUNDATION.

Harshda Daulat, Mandgaokar Kudal, Sindhudurg, Maharashtra

Harshda was a young village girl with dreams in her eyes of a happy domestic life. She came from a poor family where her father was the only bread earner working in a typing institute. Harshda was the eldest of three siblings. She studied till HSC and then despite parental opposition, she eloped and got married at the age of 19. Marital life, however, held no bliss for her. Her in-laws burdened her with all the domestic chores as well as work in the family fields. Soon her husband and family started physically abusing her. She withstood the torture for a year until she ran away and came back to her parents’ home.

For a while, Harshda was confused about her future. A neighbor told her about the NASSCOM Foundation-GTL Foundation Village Knowledge Center in Pinguli. Curious, she went there to explore if there was something she could pursue. Gauri Parab, the young center coordinator and IT curriculum instructor struck up an easy friendship with her. Harshda took up the MSUP course. The nominal fee charged to become a member of the center was something her family could afford. On completion of the course, she took the decision to go to Mumbai to look for a job.

Her determination to succeed and her skills with computers paid off and she got a job with the Mahanagar Gas Limited as a Computer Operator. Encouraged by her success, her father and the rest of her family members followed her to Mumbai and have found jobs themselves. She is now happily settled in Mumbai and attributes her successes to the Pinguli Knowledge Center and the MSUP course.

“I too am part of this Information Age”

Surekha Mohan Babar, Kharadi, Pune, Maharashtra

Surekha after her 12th standard schooling had to find a way to contribute to her family earnings.

She decided to take up the IT course, supported by Microsoft, at the Zensar-NASSCOM Knowledge Centre, in Kharadi, Pune. She witnessed immediate returns from the course as she found employment with the municipal school to teach computers to students of 2nd, 3rd standard class. Surekha has been able to set example for many to follow. The NKN centre in Kharadi is supported by Zensar.

Parshuram Damayyawar, Kanad Village NASSCOM Knowledge Center, Sangroli Maharashtra

21 year old youth was a early school drop-out. Extreme poverty had forced him to join his father as an agriculture labor to meet the daily expenses. He was earning Rs.200/- per month. As a school drop-out, he neither could read nor write, but was clever, hard working and earnestly wanted to start a small business and become self reliant.  Starting a screen printing business on a small scale,  printing pamphlets, letterheads, invitation cards, envelops etc, required him to be able to read.

At the Kanad Village NASSCOM Knowledge Center, sun by NF’s partner Sanskriti Samvardhan Mandal (SSM), Parshuram joined the adult literary course.  In a span on of 3 months, he was able to read the newspaper. He started his business in his little mud house at Sagroli, sourcing work from the shop owners, individual customers of nearby towns and villages.

After one year, today he not only earns Rs.2,200/- per month, he also works as the knowledge centre manager at the Kanad Village Knowledge Center to encourage and teach other illiterate people. opportunity to work for as a facilitating volunteer with the Indian Red Cross, Balasore, where she started at a salary of Rs 3,200 per month.

Mphasis-NASSCOM knowledge Centre, Doora, Karnataka

Manjula is a 25 year old a married woman. She lives in Doora with her five year old who studies in a private school. Manjula and her husband are not educated, which made it very difficult for them to guide and support their child in his studies at home, after the school hours.

Manjula is a member of Bhairaveshwara SHG group.  Manjula had joined the literacy classes that are conducted by educated members of the SHG group at the time of weekly meeting.  Finding this to be not adequate, Manjula had joined the TCS-Adult Literacy Program, conducted by the centre manager at the Mphasis-NASSCOM knowledge center. In a couple of months she was able to learn enough to even guide class II standards students.

Now she is able to teach and support her child’s education and learning. She is also continuously learning to improve her knowledge base. Both Manjula and her husband are very happy with what they have learnt at the Mphasis-NASSCOM knowledge center and are currently an active interest in their own as well as their child development. They are planning to enroll themselves for other skills training courses at the knowledge centre.