There was a time when mobiles were banned from the Classroom. Today, thanks to the COVID19 pandemic and its effects the classroom is on the mobile. But not all can afford a mobile. Does that mean that their education must end? For some that is a fate that is very real, given that the pandemic has also affected incomes across the board.
Human nature is unfathomable because it is often deeper than it appears. And how it manifests depends on the circumstances. In some, it manifests as self-interest first and in others – Well others’ interests are indeed a priority.
Three friends, all in the 12th grade, fall in the latter category. At the age, when the former is a norm, it is commendable that their priorities are different, their thoughts innovative, and the outcomes a boon to society. And the result? An imitative called Sulit.
Sulit (a Tagalog word meaning something that is worth it) is an initiative to support the educational needs of students. How does it do that? Well, it seeks and collects old smartphones that are in good condition and no longer in use by their owners and passes them on to children who are in need of it.
The campaign also encourages people to contribute by raising money that will help children with their needs in terms of education. These donations help them to provide the schools with logistics and monetary support, mainly for the purpose of providing virtual classes.
Friendship goals redefined!
Keki R Tallur, Aditi M Kamath, and Avni S Shetty put their heads together to come up with this imitative they christened Sulit. It helped that they are good friends too. The Campaign took off on August 4, 2020. They had thought about it for some time before putting their plan in motion though.
As students of the 12th grade, the team knows the importance of using smartphones for virtual classes today and decided jointly to help those who did not have the wherewithal to continue their education in a changing world.
Can any friendship goal beat this?
As students, they had come across several inspirational social service models being implemented by Colleges, NGOs, and other organizations and thought… Can we do something too? “We are taking these online classes regularly. But we have also heard of several students, pressurizing their parents to buy phones to attend these classes and we know of some who really cannot afford one. So, what happens to their studies? As students, we know how bad it can be if we miss out on our classes and syllabus. It is unfair to a lot of kids if they don’t stand on the same ground,” says Keki.
The young social workers started their journey at Sharada High School in Cherkady, to create awareness of this social cause. Keki says, “We wanted to know their needs; to know if it’s actually useful or unnecessary. We started by calling and talking to the principal and got some clarity on how many phones would they want. They gave a number as 20, and that’s where we began”.
She adds, “of those 20 students, 10 were in the 10th std and they would be writing their board exams. We thought once we complete those, we could contact Then we thought of contacting other schools.”.
The team aims at providing help to students who are actually in need of mobile phones and they feel that students studying for their 10th or 12th board exams have a greater need.
The trio aims to expand their social work horizon with time. “Now that we have collected quite a few phones, we will finish one school and then help another. It’s still work-in-progress.”
Among the well-wishers, some have given phones and some financial help. With financial help, the trio says, all can get the same phone with the same results… “We can get a better phone to serve their purpose, everybody gets the same phone.” That indeed would be fair play!
As the saying goes, “the purpose of education is to open the windows of the mind”. And opening the Windows of the mind does not require an Apple – just a reasonably smart phone! A smart student will find a way to make the best use of it. Let us help do it with equity says Keki.
