At the time of its launch, even Aram Foundation would not have imagined that its project, ‘Happy Child, Positive Parenting and Harmonious Living,’ would make such a huge impact on students drawn from Class I to XII of various corporation schools in Coimbatore.

Latha Sundaram, a railway employee who leads Aram Foundation Charitable Trust as its Managing Trustee, while speaking to Covai Post said, “The idea of starting a trust was conceived by me in 2012 with the sole objective of improving the soft skills of students, especially those from Corporation schools since they hail from poor families. Most of these students are from broken families, and being raised by a single parent – father or mother. Some are under the care of their grandparents. Children whose parents are daily wage labourers are left in the lurch since they do not have the right person to guide them.”

Latha, along with five other people from different vocations, started ‘Aram Foundation Charitable Trust’ in July 2012. They tied up with Coimbatore Corporation to educate, motivate and guide these students in all aspects of life. The then Mayor S.M. Velusamy and Commissioner G. Latha encouraged the trust to go ahead with the project in all the 83 schools run by the Coimbatore Corporation.

As many as 24,000 students benefited by Aram Foundation’s project, which had more than 500 volunteers, mostly college students and eminent persons from various fields, teaching these kids important lessons on anger management, responsible behaviour, and good interpersonal skills. A self-evaluation booklet was given to each child and toppers in each category were awarded certificates.

On self defence training, she said that martial arts experts Balaa (Shaolin Wushu School) and Rajkapoor (Shisido School of Wisdom) taught 25000 girl students how to defend and protect themselves from opportunistic abuse. The foundation also whitewashed the railway buildings in the city, with the support of college students.