Praveen Kumar Tangella is not one to shy away from difficult conversations. Recently tasked with helping the Cyberabad Police, the 33-year-old set out to speak to women from lower-income households whose breadwinning husbands succumbed to COVID and hence, they were left bereft and grieving. "The aim was to empathetically enquire about their financial situation and ensure that their children continue studying," explains the youngster who runs the education-centred initiative Ahamprana Foundation. In households like these, it is common for the children to be engaged in work in order to salvage the situation. And many of the women had the same idea in mind. So, the foundation decided to sponsor the education of 18 children for the academic year 2021-22.
Praveen has additionally assured that if the children score 85 per cent in their studies, he will continue to sponsor their education until their graduation, along with books and other stationery. "Usually, friends and relatives step up to help but the fear of COVID has isolated these families. Apart from helping women find livelihood, like sewing or stitching, I feel the best gift one can give their children is the gift of education," says the BTech graduate who pursued Computer Science from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad.
Speaking of difficult conversations, there is another dialogue that the Membership and Programme Director of ISACA's Hyderabad chapter (a professional association focused on IT governance) has been itching to have. "As a cybersecurity professional, looking at the progression that digital education has made in the past two years, I cannot help but bring up the topic of how vulnerable kids have become to the adult content out there. This needs to be addressed immediately before it becomes too late," says Praveen, who is also the Compliance Officer at Altruista Health. In this direction, they have partnered with a local FM station and are looking to partner with digital platforms as well to spread awareness about this lesser-known menace.
While this plan is still under development, since its inception in June 2018, Ahamprana Foundation has been tirelessly working for the cause of education. They started out by supplying books to about nine government schools in and around Narsingi, but then COVID made them pivot to the general distribution of grocery kits to the needy. "Even here, we tried to focus on teachers because there were many initiatives helping children but not any focusing on teachers. We covered 650 teachers during the pandemic," says Praveen, who has been annually donating two months of his salary to the foundation.
"It was in my father's memory that I started the foundation and it is with the strength of four to five solid volunteers that we have been carrying out our activities," says the youngster and signs off.
Keep children cyber secure:
- Privacy filters on social media and OTT platforms, on the internet in general, does the trick sometimes
- Have a talk about sharing contact details, credit card or UPI details on websites. Downloading content as well
- Since trolling and bullying are emerging troubles, it is important to address those issues as well
- Browsing can lead children down adult pathways hence, children need to be made aware of its perils
For more on them check out instagram.com/ahamprana_foundation
