Sending a child to school or college has become a costly affair these days. So has sending them to tuition classes.

It is said that social service can be of any type and it does not necessarily involve any money or material things. It is also rightly said that vidya daana (gift of education) is the best charity of all.  You cannot satisfy a person by donating money.  The more you give the more he will want. The person who receives money may even forget the donor after the money is over. But if you give education, vidya, he will not only learn something in life but also reform himself at a later date. He will remember his guru or teacher who taught lessons as long as he lives.  

Knowing the value of the above, Sharada Rao, an elderly woman has taken up the task of teaching  the poor and downtrodden who are studying in government schools in Vijayanagar, Bangalore, free of cost. Without expecting anything in return, this lady has been taking tuition classes for nearly 25 to 30 students, three days a week, during evenings between 6 to 8 pm.  

Sharada Rao, says, "By educating a person you are removing ignorance from his/her mind, you are making his/ her life bright and brilliant. You are lighting up a person's life. He will in turn light up another person's life.  That is the effect of gifting education to a person who is in need". She further says, "By donating education, you are not losing anything. It is like lighting a candle with another candle".  

These underprivileged students have also been lucky enough to get a big and spacious room for their tuitions free of cost!! Narasimha Shenoy, who has been rehabilitating mentally challenged children for more than two decades is the generous benefactor. As the mentally retarded children leave school by 3 pm everyday its premises are free in the evenings, which Mr Shenoy has generously donated for this noble cause.

Sharada Rao has been teaching English to these government school kids for the last few months.  With patience and perseverance she has been teaching these children who have no clue about even the basics of English.
Sharada Rao is also an expert yoga teacher who taught lessons at Bihar School of Yoga. Apart from teaching English she also teaches moral lessons which she hopes will go a long way in inspiring students at a later date. She teaches moral lessons taken from the Ramayana and the Mahabharatha.

A couple of middle-aged men also assist her in teaching and other activities.

Mr Shenoy also feels that if these under privileged students are exposed to the mentally challenged children they will become  compassionate. He tries to inculcate a sense of social service in these students at an impressionable age.