A hut turned into a two-storey tuition centre

BANGALORE: M Kasi, the son of a vegetable vendor at Ambedkarnagar in Gandhinagar Assembly constituency, wanted to utilise his leisure time for a better purpose.Kasi, who was studying BCom, found many children wandering on the streets whose last worry was education.To provide guidance on how to score good marks and help them complete homework, he started Dr Ambedkar Free Tuition Centre more than a decade ago.He had a vision to reach out to young minds who cared little about studies, but initially, he had no place to give classes.Finally, he started giving tuition in a hut measuring barely 10x7 sqft.With more and more students joining the tuition centre, he had to conduct tuition on the footpath in front of the hut.“I did not realise that an article about my tuition centre would make a big difference,” recalls Kasi.He visited The New Indian Express office and explained his situation.Realising his noble intention, the reporter visited Ambedkar nagar the very next day to gather information on the tuition centre.As soon as the paper published an article highlighting Kasi’s service to the children of slum-dwellers, a few philanthropists came forward to lend a helping hand.“I am very grateful to the Express, that encouraged philanthropists such as Anand Padmanabhan, Venkataraman and K Devaraj who provided me support.Padmanabhan came forward to pay honorarium to teachers and Venkataraman provided books and uniforms for the students.Devaraj supplied building materials to construct a permanent structure,” says Kasi.Now, the two-storey building accommodates around 180 students who avail themselves of free tuition.He has extended the tuition service to the nearby areas where around 380 students are being benefited.“I want to open 20 more tuition centres for the benefit of students from economically backward families.I have already requested the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike authorities to start tuition centres at the BBMP schools in the evening,” explains Kasi.