By Robancy A Helen
Tiruchirappalli, July 6, 2020: Catholic bishops in Tamil Nadu have started an online program to provide career guidance to Dalit students in the southern Indian state.
Although the Tamil Nadu Bishops’ Council have conducted many career guidance programs in the past this is the first online career guidance program for Dalit Christians, said Bishop P. Thomas Paulsamy of Dindigul while launching the program on July 5.
The bishop is the chairperson of the council’s Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes that conducts the program.
As many as 150 students from the state’s 18 Catholic dioceses attended the first-day program. The students will be guided in their desired area of study once a week, said Father Kulandainathan Adaikalasamy, the organizer and the secretary for the commission.
The program, he told Matters India, aims at providing “the best education possible for all the poor and the marginalized children.”
The commission hopes to instill new ideas and thoughts in Dalit students, to create new goals, and to make their dreams come true. No student would be deprived of higher education because of poverty, untouchability, and ignorance, he added.
The students sat in groups in villages maintaining the distance while attending the online program.
“Though the students are from utter poverty-stricken villages, we managed to connect them through Zoom,” says Maria Susai, a field staff of the commission from Salem diocese.
Devadharshini from Uthamapalayam in Theni district she wanted to become a doctor and had no idea of other careers.
“This online program helped me understand about other courses too. There are many possibilities and we cannot stick into only one. We need to dream big,” she said added, “This program made my vision clear and better.”
Several experts from the state and federal government offices serve as resource persons. They deal with Arts, Science, Engineering, medicine, nursing, commerce civil service examinations and other professional courses.
Ku Chinnapan, a well-known educationist and the registrar of Tamil University, Thanjavur and Christhu Dass Gandhi, a retired IAS officer, guided the students from their experiences and motivated them.
Manju from Palayamkottai diocese hailed the online program as a “golden opportunity” to choose their career. “All the resource persons are knowledgeable and guided us well. I am happy to be part of this program and I am planning to participate in all the sessions of this program,” she added.
Vimal Jerald, who is a professor of computer science at St. Joseph’s College, Trichy coordinated the program with the bishops’ commission.
Other resource persons were Alex Ramani, deputy principal of St. Joseph’s College and John, dean for Management Studies at St. Joseph’s College, Trichy, Balasubramanian, cardiologist of Trichy Government College, Cecilia Mary, professor of Nursing in All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, John Bosco (Ministry of Employment and Training), Sundaravalavan, Revenue Inspector of Thiruvarur and Velumani, the Librarian of Thiruvarur Central University and Nivetha Rosy an instructor of Civil Service Examinations.