ON a mission to help poor Malaysians get better access to education, a group of teachers have banded together to provide free online tuition to those who need it.

The group is named “Naam Anbukarangal”, which can be loosely translated from Tamil to mean ‘to love and care’, and it began giving free online lessons on September 1. It now has 2,000 students from all over the country.

Its founder Vijayan Yankteshery, 36, started the classes in hopes of helping all students, regardless of race or religion.

“When we first started, I was only helping those in Klang by providing groceries and a refurbished desktop to B40 families and students.

“I then wanted to help more people by expanding my reach nationwide. I had the idea of teaching free tuition classes and put the word out, and I got really good feedback,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Naam Anbukarangal has about 70 members, of which 13 are volunteer teachers. The other members help with the group’s other programmes, which include delivering groceries and providing refurbished computers to the needy.

While all the teachers are Malaysian Indians, their students come from all over the country, even from Sabah and Sarawak. Those from east Malaysia mostly signed up for its history classes.

The other subjects taught are Maths, Science, English, Bahasa Melayu, Economics, History, Moral, and Tamil.

The classes are open for students from Standard 1 all the way to Form 5.

“We have 13 teachers. Ten of them are teachers at national schools while two are university students who have experience giving tuition.

“All of them volunteer their time to teach the students, we are not here to make money,” Vijayan said.

Vijayan himself is an economics teacher at SMJK Chung Hwa, Klang and is volunteering his time to provide tuition on the subject to Form 4 and Form 5 students every Thursday night.

“I have about 159 students who have signed up for the free online tuition class. My goal is to look out for SPM students whose education has been severely impacted due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said, adding that he has over 18 years of teaching experience.

While the free lessons are geared towards helping needy students, Vijayan admits that it is hard to determine who really is from the B40 group.

“We have a Google form for people to sign up on and we ask them to be truthful about whether they are from the B40 group, but there is really nothing we can do to prevent non-B40s from joining the class, unless we ask for their parents’ payslips.

“So, we just take in everyone who signs up. After all, the goal is to provide education for all.”

For now, the free online tuition classes will go on for five months before they decide on their next course of action, Vijayan added.

Helping pupils score

Volunteer Panchali K. Rama, 57, is an English teacher at SMK Pandan Indah in Ampang.

With over 35 years of teaching experience, she volunteers her time helping students master the English language as she finds command of the language lacking among Malaysians.

“I mark SPM papers and I want to help these students learn the subject so that they can write and answer correctly.

“If, before this, they were going to fail, hopefully by joining my class, they can at the very least pass, and for those who were getting Cs or Bs, (hopefully) they can get better results,” she said.

About 400 students have signed up for her free online tuition class, she said.

“I have 200 Form 4 students and another 200 Form 5 students whom I teach via Google Meet.

Another teacher, Kasturi Shanmugam, said she was more than happy to volunteer her time as it was a good initiative.

“I feel that it is a good idea and a good service for our society. Plus, our focus is on B40 students, those who really want to study but can’t afford to,” Shanmugam, who has 11 years of teaching experience said.

Meanwhile, Abilasha Thanabal, 22, who has been teaching tuition since she was 15, decided to volunteer her time to give free lessons during her semester break.

“I teach Mathematics for standard 1 to 3 students every Friday night. I have about 88 students now,” she said.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Thanabal, who studies agrotechnology at University Malaysia Kelantan, said she used to teach at tuition centres.

“I don’t get paid here, but I don’t mind.”

Her only regret is that she cannot volunteer more time as she has to look after her autistic brother, as her father, a lorry driver, is often away for weeks at a time. – September 15, 2021.