While the lockdown due to the two waves of Covid pandemic has restricted movement while affecting the earning of a vast section, there are some who have used it as an opportunity to generate income. Take the case of a girl engineering student located in Tiruchi.
With online education becoming the mode of teaching, K. Viswathika, a 20-year-old engineering student took up teaching core science subjects and computer programming. Wait, it is not just to local students or those in the country. She transcended the boundaries to reach out to students in Singapore, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
Based in Woraiyur, Viswathika, is a student of B.Tech in Computer Engineering in a college in Bengaluru. When asked to teach chemistry and physics to her niece staying miles away in California, US, nearly seven months ago, she had no idea that this mode of instruction can fetch not just money but the dollars while she continued studying!
The positive response she got from her niece lifted Viswathika’s confidence several times. She went on to give a demonstration and got herself registered on an online teaching portal.
Viswathika’s first overseas student was 10-year-old Aliyah, a Grade IV student of London. Aliyah enrolled for python, a coding programme. It was through her first student that Viswathika received a number of referrals for teaching coding programmes and chemistry, physics and mathematics.
Viswathika now teaches 20 students who hail from New Zealand, US and UK. She continues to get inquiries from other students. Thanks to her knowledge in Information and Technology and online teaching tools, she has been able to make her teaching and method of instruction, both engaging, and interactive.
Also read: Punjab teacher uses Covid-19 lockdown opportunity to teach children across the globe
Talking to The Hindu she said: “I feel happy to leverage the online methodologies to connect the students across the borders. My passion for teaching has made it happen.”
In order to be able to teach better through effective communication, she did a short term course in English with the British Council in Chennai. This helped her to effectively communicate with the overseas students.
Even though Viswathika has an Indian accent, she did not face any particular problem with the students from the UK.
Devoting her daytime to attending online classes conducted by CMR University in Bengaluru, from where she is pursuing B.Tech, her evenings are spent on taking online classes.
She told The Hindu: “There is a great scope for online education transcending borders. The time is not far away when there will be recognised online schools.”
Going beyond learning and teaching, Viswathika, has developed two pharmacy management software for the pharmaceutical companies. Now she has employed five MBA interns to find clients for her products.
