Hailing from Kamalandapuram village in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvannamalai, Rajasundari Thirumugam is the eldest of five children — all daughters. Born in a household with her father as the only bread winner, finances have been a grave concern for Rajasundari growing up. So much so that after completing her class 10th from government school, her father was reluctant to enroll her for higher education.
Things took a turn for good for Rajasundari when her mother Thilaka came to know about free coaching provided by a self-help group in their village to students to help crack entrance exams for higher education. The family latched on to the opportunity of free coaching. After training Rajasundari cleared an entrance exam which allowed her to study at a vocational institute. Based on her score, she was able to pursue her higher education at Pollachi’s Nachimuthu Vocational Training Institute in mechanical engineering.
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Vocational training and mechanical engineering – both are considered to be main dominated fields, however, determined to get herself and her family out of financial crunch, Rajasundari took admission in the course.
Over coming the English Barrier
To her dismay, despite being dedicated to studies, Rajasundari found it hard to catch up in the class as her entire course was in English and she being from a Tamil-medium school was not very well versed in English.
For her and others hailing from non-English medium schools, the institute conducted extra classes on spoken English and communication skills. The classes were held for an hour every day after regular classes which helped her and other students score better. In her three year course, she had scored 69 per cent in the first year but as she gained confidence she was able to increase her score to 79 per cent, and 84 per cent, in second and third year respectively.
Landing a Job
After completing her course, the next stage was to land a job. For her job, Rajasundari says it is a mix of both Tamil and English and she is managing well.
After several rounds of exams and interview, Rajasundari landed a job at TVS. Coincidently, the local self-help group which supported her too was an initiated by Srinivasan Services Trust — the social arm of TVS Motors. She, no doubt was happy to not only have a job but be a part of the group which had helped her at times of need.
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“I cracked the job via the a multi-level exam and interview process. After three years of education at the institute. I have been working her for four and a half years now,” Rajasundari told News18.com.
The 23-year-old, who prefers to speak in Tamil, says knowing English is not mandatory to find a job. “English may be more convenient, however, it is not a necessity to find a job,” says she.
Paving Way for Siblings
Being financially independent, Rajasundari has paved way for her sisters too. While her mother and father continue to work on the farm. Her second sister is pursuing graduation in biochemistry, while her third sister took the same course same as Rajasundari. They are both now working together in the same factory. The fourth sister is in class 12 while the youngest one is in class 7.
Rajasundari now aims to pursue higher education. Her company provides the same. Hence, she has now applied for the same and is awaiting responses, she claims. The company will sponsor for her future studies as well. She is currently at the quality engineering department of TVS and aims to becomes the head of that department.
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