However, not all parents can afford these classes, particularly those from the B40 group, which by the government’s definition are households that earn less than RM4,850 per month.

Understanding their predicament, Devi Velayudan, a teacher herself, set up the Krsna Avanti Care Centre in 2019, after realising just how many students did not have the financial means to attend tuition.

She also collaborated with e-learning portal, MindAppz, to launch the “Sponsor A Child” programme so deserving students could continue to benefit from a good education.

“I started giving tuition in a devotional centre near my home in Melaka,” Devi tells FMT.

Devi runs the centre on her own and believes her motivation to help these students stems from her deep love for teaching. “It is something that is very close to my heart,” she says.

“I hope to be able to provide every child with the opportunity to learn,” she adds, sharing that some of the students she teaches dropped out of school very early.

She tells FMT that the tuition centre is their second chance to get back on track with their education.

Unfortunately, not long after Krsna Avanti was set up, the pandemic hit and a national lockdown was announced. Looking back however, Devi says the lockdown was “a blessing in disguise”.

What started off on a small scale with only a handful of students in Melaka, has grown into a huge undertaking as Devi is now able to reach out to deserving students from other states in the country as well through online classes.

“We were able to transition to online learning and provide free tuition for those who really needed it,” she says, adding that she uses the education ministry-approved syllabus.

The tuition centre has been a huge success and the number of students that enrolled for classes has been overwhelming, she says.

“In 2020 we had about 38 students that we were able to sponsor. This year so far we have 87 students that we are looking to sponsor,” she says adding that she is hopeful even more students can enrol once the centre has enough donors.

The pandemic has been trying to say the least and Devi is particularly disappointed that she cannot meet her students face to face.

However, she does her best to check in on them virtually and enquire about how they’re coping with their studies. She says she does this because she understands how taxing online learning can be on some students.

Devi explains that the MindAppz portal is extremely useful as it includes e-learning, e-books, audio e-books, online testing, monitoring, assessments and even analytical reports so parents can track their child’s educational progress as well as their strengths and weaknesses.

“This portal also provides students with many other lessons that may not be available in their schools,” she says, explaining that the portal is an all-in-one programme that provides coding lessons, Mandarin classes and even Zumba lessons.

“Through this sponsorship programme B40 students will also get the opportunities and encouragement they require to improve their learning performance,” she says.

She appeals to generous Malaysians to answer the call to “Sponsor A Child” so more less privileged kids can obtain a good education.

The “Sponsor A Child” programme costs only RM299 per student for one year.

If you would like to sponsor a student, make a donation to the Krsna Avanti Care Centre, AmBank account number 8881039520719 today.