From village classrooms to medical college corridors: One free coaching centre sends six under-privileged students to study medicine

CHENNAI: At around 8.45 pm on 13 August, as the NEET counselling process wound down outside the Omandurar Government Estate Hospital campus, Mrs Gayathri Ananthakrishnan, Managing Director Curi Hospitals Chennai, sat alone in her car outside the towering building, taking in what a year of work had finally delivered: six students from her free coaching centre, all from small villages in Tamil Nadu, had secured admission to medical colleges

“There is something special about your child becoming a doctor compared to other professions, especially if they are the first graduate in their family,” Mrs Gayathri said. “‘En paiyan, ponnu doctor’ carries more than what it literally means. It carries with it a silent respect, dignity and job assurance. The trajectory, the confidence and the quality of life it opens up for the family and the next generation is phenomenal.”

For many of the centre's students, simply reaching a classroom was its own daily obstacle. Some travelled two hours each way to attend class, then returned home to work odd jobs in the house and the field before studying at night. The barriers were rarely about drive or passion, Mrs Gayathri said, but access: no coaching centre nearby, no way to pay coaching fees, a shortage of reading material in Tamil, and, for girls in particular, a lack of encouragement to keep trying. In response, the centre added a hostel facility for its girl students.

The teaching itself was built around each student rather than a single fixed syllabus. “We were not just teaching Physics, Chemistry and Biology, we were teaching and seeing life lessons unfold,” Mrs Gayathri said. “To understand each student, their fears, their gaps, and then tailor their reading plan to their needs, whether Tamil medium or English medium, the teachers put in their utmost effort.” Regular weekly tests, answer-paper discussions, Wednesday evening video meetings, parent-teacher meetings and a fixed daily timetable became the rhythm the centre ran on.

Some students sat the exam for the fourth or fifth time, unwilling to accept anything short of an MBBS seat; one student, who had already completed a nursing degree, returned to the centre to begin preparing all over again for her original dream of becoming a doctor. Another, a Tamil-medium student, put the language barrier she faced simply: “Question purinja thaanae, answer solla mudiyum, madam” — only once I understand the question can I answer it, madam. “It was a struggle, not an exam on equal footing, given the economic gap,” Mrs Gayathri said. “The exam was the same, the pressures were the same, sometimes more. What made the difference was the shared dream between the student, the parent and the teachers, and the burning desire from within that carried the race to its end, which was really a beginning.”

“I'm proud to be part of their journey, from the classrooms at Magudanchavadi to the corridors of medical colleges,” Mrs Gayathri said. “I'm sure these children will pay it forward, and soon what started as a ripple will be a wave, one that keeps turning dreams into doctors to be.”

Mrs Gayathri thanked Ganga Hospital, Coimbatore, for its CSR support of the initiative, along with education consultants Mr Sathish and Mr Rajesh, faculty members Mr Senthil (Physics), Mr Sakthivel (Chemistry) and Mr Thilagam (Biology), coordinator Mr Arun Thangaraj and typist Ms Suganya, whom she called the backbone of the initiative. “They truly transformed not just a student's future, but the family's, and the next generation's,” she said.

About the Shanmuganathan Kanagavalli Charitable Trust

The Shanmuganathan Kanagavalli Charitable Trust runs a free NEET coaching centre in Magudanchavadi, Tamil Nadu, for students from surrounding villages, with a particular focus on Government school students facing barriers to accessing coaching. The centre was founded in 2024 by M/s Ganga Hospitals and provides tuition, study resources, mentoring and hostel accommodation for Gov School students at no cost to families. Mrs Gayathri is the grand daughter of Dr Shanmuganathan and Mrs Kanagavalli.

Media Contact

Shanmuganathan Kanagavalli Charitable Trust — 3/285, MGR Nagar, Magudamchavadi, Singagiri, Salem, 637103, Phone : 9362525262