M Rafi Ahmed
Catch them young and watch them grow is the buzzword for thirty-eight-year-old Ganesh Ramasamy, a resident of Mettupalayam (the Gateway to the Queen of Hill stations) in offering an alternative learning space to children thereby bringing out their innate talents. Armed with ME (computer science), Ganesh worked in the IT field for a couple of years and later had a three-and half-year stint as Assistant Professor at United Institute of Technology, Periyanaickenpalayam near here.
As to the words of Missile Man of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam–Be a job provider and not a job seeker, Ganesh with an enterprising spirit launched his “C3 Tech Academy” in 2007 and honed different skills of children. For him, it’s learning beyond the classroom which had a good impact among the school going children. With over 60 to 70 children experiencing the newfound method evinced keen interest in this learning module.
LifeSkill training is my priority, he told this scribe and added that more than academic learning, LifeSkill learning is vital in this competitive world as one has to face the challenges to compete with others. Keeping this in view, he identified school dropouts and those, who couldn’t get their basic education due to various reasons were given training in various skills right from designing, animation, computer courses, Chess and Cube.
According to him, Chess is the way to learn hope, which enables one to undergo challenges, dream about opportunities, and attempt to make a positive impact. Hope is one of the greatest gifts one can give to others and motivation is lost without hope. Based on this, Ganesh strives to make the children think out-of-the-box thereby giving them an exposure to new opportunities.
It may be noted that he gave chess coaching online to children between 6-12 years of age in the US more particularly in Texas city. This, he said, had good response from both the children and their parents since he had a firm belief in the words of former Coimbatore District Chess Association P K Selvamurugesan (now deceased) — “Don’t see Chess and Life as different”. Both are intertwined.
Consistent practice alone can give perfection in life–is what Ganesh is up to in inculcating good mannerisms, skill training, admiring nature and what not. As to the inspiring quote of Winston Churchill– “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts”. These profound words are attributed to serve as a reminder that success should not be the end goal, nor should failure be seen as an ultimate defeat. Instead, it is the ability to persist and carry on despite setbacks that truly matters. Ganesh is exactly at it.
