Satmetrix’s social responsibility programme -A touching gesture

On Last week,30 students from four government schools will be the proud owners of a laptop each, courtesy the social responsibility programme of Technopark-based Satmetrix Software and Systems India Pvt Ltd. The occasion is doubly sweet, since the company is celebrating its second anniversary too.

Named ‘Guiding Light Program’, the initiative was launched by Satmetrix on its first anniversary. It aimed at helping economically underprivileged children. On Saturday, these children will receive a laptop each, after having sat through the sessions on Information Technology and personality development provided by the devoted employees of the company.

The children were chosen on the basis of the monthly income of their parents and their academic performance. “The monthly income of the family had to be less than Rs 3,000 and the children should have scored above 85 percentage marks in all subjects,’’ said Selestin K.  Thomas, manager (IT and Operations). Satmetrix, with its headquarters in the Silicon Valley, California, has been a global provider of on-demand software applications and consulting services.

The children, aged between 7 and 13, are from the government schools at Kulathur, Kazhakkuttam, Chavadimukku and Cheruvikkal. The school heads recommended the names of eligible students. The income certificate, verified by village officers, and mark lists were submitted to the company. The eligible students were interviewed by the company and from the lot 30 were chosen for the programme.

Since last November, these children have been coming to the Satmetrix office, once in a month. They were there from 8.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., getting personal mentoring from 30 employees of the company. “Our employees devoted their time to give them training and develop their personality,’’ said Selestin.

They were taught basic operating systems and application software. They were also exposed to Skype, how to create id in Skype and to chat. They had a first-hand experience on using Google Earth and internet and were taught how to create email ids. “There were extended sessions on computer viruses and the safety precautions because they will be handling laptops on their own,’’ Selestin added. Many renowned personalities from different walks of life used to attend these mentoring sessions.