‘Education can empower women’

“The aim has always been to light up more lives with our motto, ‘Seek, share and serve’. We want to add more institutions and make the ones functioning the best educational and career-oriented ones. It is not mere assimilation of knowledge here,” she explained. 

Her father, the late M.G. Thomas, laid the foundation for the institutions way back in 1967 at CIT Nagar, with only 14 students. Today, it is comprised of seven educational institutions. Offering the CBSE curriculum at CIT Nagar and Porur and the International Cambridge curriculum at Sembakkam, they also offer the Matriculation Higher Secondary school certificate at Sembakkam and CIT. The Alpha Arts and Science College has a wide range of Bachelor degree programmes, while The Alpha College of Engineering runs Bachelor degree programmes in Electronics and Communication Engineering, Computer Science Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Information Technology and Bio Medical Engineering as well as post-graduation in Computer Science and Engineering and Management studies. 

With a Bachelor’s degree in Education and Masters in English Literature, Dr Grace, who took over the mantle in the 1990s, has strengthened the focus on academics and extra-curricular activities. “We have always been about all-round development, complemented by discipline and spirituality,” she added. 

Dr Grace noted that through the years the group had been catering to first generation learners, apart from students from across different backgrounds. “The guiding principles have been the giving of personal attention and moral values. I have also learnt from my father that perseverance and hard work take you to greater heights. That’s why I still haven’t stopped setting goals,” she added. 

Assisted by her daughter Suja, who is the vice chairperson of the group, Dr Grace has striven to empower girl students.

“We often see that they don’t know about their rights. As a woman, I feel that it is my responsibility to enable them to come up with the right questions and know their rights. Parents of first generation learners also need to be counselled about the importance of education and we spend considerable time with them to tell them how it can change lives. We also offer scholarships for students from under-privileged families,” she said. 

Keeping students engaged and finding quality teachers remains a challenge, she admitted. “Parents are unable to control their children, who are aggressive, especially the adolescents. Yet we can’t give up on them; we need to mould them. There was a time when teaching was a passion, but today people become teachers when they can’t find another job. We have to manage within these constraints and still not compromise on quality,” she said. That brings into the picture the task of empowering the staff, she adds. “Teachers today cannot write on the blackboard and tutor children in a mechanical way, expecting the students to understand and repeat after them. We have to employ innovative and newer techniques to grab the attention of students, given the number of distractions they have and the pressures they face today. They need to be groomed into thinking individuals with a vision,” she pointed out. 

Being a self-financing institution, Dr Grace said that while they had evolved their own finance model, they had also kept the fees nominal. “We have to be self-sustaining as well, as we do not receive grants, and yet we need to walk on the path of growth,” she said.