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Sterlite Foundation brings low-cost computer education to the needy

Priya Ganapati in Bombay

It's a steep flight of stairs that the students climb to reach the 300 square feet alcove at Marine Drive in downtown Bombay.

Inside the room, massive concrete beams criss-cross the room forcing one to walk with a perpetual stoop. "Mind your head. Be careful, else you'll get hurt," says the teacher who sits on a tiny desk at the entrance.

Sandwiched between the railway line and the Marine Drive Road, just under the gigantic flyover is a room packed with students, huddled in front of the black and white computer screens.

They seem completely oblivious of their surroundings. The smoking garbage dump next door does not bother them, nor does the paint peeling off the walls with mottled black patches on them.

Their attention is focussed on a young man in a tie and a stiff beige shirt explaining the principles of desktop publishing. Others peer into their computers trying to grasp the fundamentals of relational database management.

Knowledge at low cost

The scene, except for the squalour, may seem commonplace in a city where computer-training institutes dot every street corner.

Apart from popular institutes like NIIT, Aptech or Boston, there are scores of smaller institutes impart computer training. The courses come at a hefty price tag; anywhere between Rs 5,000 and Rs 40,000.

The students in this room cannot afford this. They are from the lower middle class. They come from families that while being above the poverty line are still struggling to make ends meet.

But they are fascinated by the IT wave, not so much because of the technology as by the hope that it can be their passport to a better life. This training centre with its peeling paint and painful beams is all they can afford.

Here, for as little as Rs 800, they can learn Oracle programming or pay Rs 600 to undergo a three month course understanding Visual Basic programming or opt for the Rs 500 certificate course in C programming.

Run by the Sterlite Foundation, a non-profit organisation funded by the Rs 70-billion Sterlite group, these Sterliteracy centres offer computer education to the underprivileged. If the combined annual income of both parents is less than Rs 30,000 per annum, then their children can find a place here.

"We want to give the underprivileged section of the society another option for employment. We want to give them a chance to learn what they cannot afford otherwise," says the affable Piyush Datta, general manager, computer education, who manages the Sterlite Foundation's activities in Bombay.

The Sterlite Foundation was set up in 1992 and today has 210 'Sterliteracy' centres across the country, including the 27 centres in Bombay. It is entirely funded by the Sterlite group which is one of the biggest conglomerates in the country with interests in non-ferrous mining and metals notably copper and aluminium, high technology optical fiber and optical fiber cables.

In the last few months, Sterlite has been in the limelight for its purchase of the government-owned Balco, the divestment of which raked up quite a ruckus in the political circles.

"The students who come to us are lost in life. They have just completed high school and don't have the money or the patience to study any further. They are not looking for 3-5 year courses to learn. They want something quick and something inexpensive,'' says Datta.

Courses offered

The Foundation provides the best of computer courses at very low costs. Web site designing, HTML, Flash, Frontpage 2000, Tally, Visual Basic, PageMaker, Photoshop are all taught. Courses that teach the popular accounting package Tally and other desktop publishing come for as little as Rs 100 a month. The most expensive course in client serve technology costs Rs 1,500 for six months.

It is education at its minimalistic best. There are no trappings of luxury at the centres. All effort is made to keep costs down and overheads low. Unlike other computer training institutes the students do not sit on cushioned chairs. A three-legged stool is deployed. There is no air-conditioning and fans are few.

But there is no compromise on the quality of the course. Sterlite Foundation employs a research team of about ten people which concentrates on structuring the syllabus and updating it. These are individuals with over ten years of experience in the IT sector and they focus on developing courses that would ensure that the students get their basics right and learn the principles well.

When Datta started the institute in 1996, there were few takers. Computer education was not everyone's cup of tea, and the idea to master the device as a means of employment had to yet to take root.

So for the first six months, he sat twiddling his thumbs, while he persuaded the less fortunate to sign up for the courses.

"People just could not believe that we offer good quality computer training at such low prices. We ran into a wall: one of scepticism and disbelief. People thought we must be cheating them in some way. But we managed to convince a few to join," recalls Datta.

As word trickled out, more signed up. In 1998, when the IT boom occurred worldwide, students started pouring in. Word of mouth has been the only form of publicity. "We cannot afford advertising and anyway the kind of people we reach out to are not those who scan expensive magazines and newspapers," says Datta.

This year, the institute thought of a novel way to reach out to its potential clientele. Volunteers of the Sterlite Foundation stood along the roads and offered free drinking water and pamphlets to youth manning the numerous Ganesh mandals across the city during Ganeshotsav.

While the free drinking water got their attention, the pamphlets, the volunteers hope, will stay with them, to be read at leisure, after they get home.

As the students started coming in, Datta and his team realised that they had a new challenge on their hands. Unlike other computer training institutes, Sterlite's centres could not limit themselves to just explaining the principles of computing.

The students that came to them were from the lowest sections of society. Some had a psychological problem. They were plagued by poor self-esteem and could barely keep up a conversation in English - a necessity if they sought to get a white-collar job in a company.

So, the 'Sterliteracy' centres had to make a few changes to their training course. Along with computer training, teachers also teach conversational English, grammar, and hold a few personality development classes for the students.

The training centres are typically small. A maximum of about 12 computers and 24 students in a batch. There are two students assigned to one computer. It is a deliberate move to keep the size small, while ensuring that the students do not feel lost.

"The students we get here are introverts. They would get lost in a crowd so we keep the place small and give personal attention to each one of them," says Datta.

The teachers are usually hired from the applications received after publishing an advertisement in the newspapers. The average pay starts at Rs 3,000. But many come to teach after they hear about the place from friends.

Like 24-year Ashok Dudhani. A graduate in commerce from the Lala Lajpat Rai College in Bombay, Dudhani decided to teach at the 'Sterliteracy' centre after hearing about the place from a friend who had earlier worked as a teacher here.

Dudhani had done a three year diploma course in computers from Aptech and thought that while the job would allow him to brush up on his skills, it would also bring in some money--not enough though.

So Dudhani juggles two jobs. From 7.30 am to 3.00 pm he works a teacher at the 'Sterliteracy' centre and then after a half an hour lunch break works from 3.30 pm to 9.00 at a friend's shop that sells stainless steel pipes.

"I joined here because I liked the good work that these people do. But if I get a better job I will move out. I am not looking for one right now but in a few months I will," says Dudhani.

For him, the challenge in the job is to teach computers and programming to students who had barely passed high school. "I have to switch between English and Hindi to explain the concepts. Usually I give examples in Hindi so that the students understand the fundamentals well," he says.

The dropout rate at these institutes is not every high. The faculty student ratio stands at an encouraging 1: 6, which ensures close personal attention.

"Those who drop out are usually the ones who cannot cope with the course because of psychological reasons. They are students who feel that they technology is something beyond their comprehension. We try hard to persuade them to stay on. But if we fail, the thought that for every one student who drops out, there are 99 others who go on, encourages us," says Datta.

Across Bombay, the Sterlite Foundation "graduates" about 1000 students every two months. At any point of time, there are nearly 25,000 students studying in the 'Sterliteracy' centres throughout India.

Once the students finish their course, they appear for an examination that is common to all centres across the country. Successful candidates are given a certificate and registered with the placement cell of the institute. The cell has a list of companies willing to absorb the institute's students in available vacant positions.

"We are able to find jobs for nearly 50 per cent of those who study with us. From the rest, we try to absorb some as in-house as lab assistants. We also recommend further courses to others. And then, of course, there are some who walk out of the door and we never hear from them again," says Datta.

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