How ASAP changed Abhijith's life
Name: Abhijith Saji
Institution: MCGHSS Arpookkara
Principal: Soosamma Mathew (Rtd)
Coordinator: Bino Joseph
SDE: Dhanyasree and Santhosh Thannikkatt
Abhijith completed his plus 2 from GHSS Arpookara, and had opted science stream for his course of study. His family consists of his father, mother, grandmother and a younger brother who is studying in 9th grade at St. Aloyious, Athirampuzha. His father is a daily wage labourer and mother, a housewife. He joined ASAP in 2012. He still remembers, it was on the compulsion of the then coordinator Bino Sir, who passed away few years ago, that he joined ASAP. He says that Bino Sir knew the deserving candidates in his school. He was part of the first batch of students which GHSS Kanakkari got in Kottayam District.
At the beginning of the course he found it difficult to come for the skill classes on Saturdays and Sundays, as he had opted science stream in plus one and had lot to study. But he enjoyed the FM classes taken by Dhanya, an SDE at his school. He recollected her classes and remembers how friendly she was and the activities given by her, such as drama performances and public speaking. As it was compulsory for everyone to perform on the stage, it helped him to get rid of his shyness and inhibitions in standing before a crowd. Before, he was an introvert type character but now he can face a public and speak in English confidently. He participated in the 10 day practical class conducted in BSNL office at Trivandrum. There he learnt PC assembling, Software and Operating System installation. At first, as he had no hands on experience in using computers, he found it difficult to cope with it. Gradually he picked up. When asked about his hobbies, he smiled and said that he never likes playing but only likes to watch his friends play cricket and football.
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| Abhijith with his family |
It was Mr. Arun, PM from the DPM Unit, who informed him about an interview at Corona Institute at Kottayam, which was a hardware servicing institute. He attended the interview and was selected in their list. Later, after few days, CoronaInstitute referred him to Oxygen Showroom, at Kottayam. He attended the interview and was asked to join within 10 days.
He is presently working at Thiruvalla showroom of Oxygen. He prefers to continue there as he has to work in 2 Sections, both Installation and Servicing, so that he gets an opportunity to learn more from there. Now with his earning, he is able to support his family. He feels it proud to stand on his feet. After talking to him for an hour I felt I should go personally and meet his family and get a direct feedback about their expectations from their son. When asked about his family he spoke about his mother a lot.
I left SDC Kanakkari at 4 pm and went to his house which is near MG University.When I arrived at his house his grandmother was waiting outside to receive me.She invited me to her house. I introduced myself and told them the purpose of my visit. At first she was hesitant to talk to me as she didn’t know what to tell. I asked her whether she is happy with her son’s job. She just smiled and replied she is happy and at the same time it’s hard for her that her son is staying away from home. Still she says it is a big relief for her as he supports his family at such a young age. He sends money whenever she faces financial constraints and has never turned his face away from the responsibilities. She also told me about her disappointment that due to his father’s illness her dream about his higher studies have grind to a halt.She wants him to have a degree. When I asked her whether they were interested to send him to ASAP, she said that Abhijth always focused only in his studies and was never interested in participating in any extracurricular activities. So she really wanted him to have an additional skill. She had also sent him to ITI, which he discontinued after his father got sick. When asked about his nature, she said he does not have many friends and is more attached to his family. So after enquiring about his father’s illness, I advised him to purse a degree in correspondence along with his work as it was his mother’s dream to have a degree for her son.
