RI Prez inaugurates RC Jubilee Hills Learning Centre

The Sarath Gopal Rotary Club of Jubilee Hills Learning Centre in Hyderabad was inaugurated by RI President Shekhar Mehta in October. The centre came into being thanks to the passion and generosity of two members of RC Jubilee Hills — Sarath Gopal, who donated 1,800 sqft of prime land for the building, and Penchala Reddy, a new member sponsored by past president Raam Prasad, who took care of the building cost through a donation of ₹50 lakh.

Prasad also roped in sponsors for tiling, sanitary ware and painting, all costing ₹20 lakhs and along with Rtn Raman Reddy oversaw the construction.

Mehta inaugurated the centre in the presence of RI District 3150 DG Prabhakar, club president Suresh Gupta, other senior Rotary leaders, and Rotaractors. PDG Sam Patibandla said this centre has been set up with the objective to provide skills for developing entrepreneurship and employment opportunities for disadvantaged youth and women through relevant skill development courses. Apart from communication, information and transformation, spoken English and soft skills, as well as vocational skills like accountancy with Tally, housekeeping and front office managing skills, financial literacy and other courses based on industry requirements will also be offered. “RCJH hopes that this centre would become the go-to place for quality manpower backed by the ideals of Rotary, which will be taught here,” said club president Gupta.

The centre, which had soft-launched its programmes in September 2020, has already reached about 1,500 beneficiaries through a hybrid model of virtual and face-to-face classes due to pandemic challenges. Some beneficiaries of the Tally programme have already been placed in internships and employment. Physical classes in the centre will begin from January 2022, he added.

Inaugurating the facility, a three-storied building with training halls of about 1,000 sqft each, and roof-top dining area, the RI President said, “These are the temples of service through which we make an impact in the lives of hundreds of people.” He went on to narrate the story of Sanchita, whose education he and spouse Rashi had supported through Udaan, a charitable foundation that funds education. He said that the life of the entire family had changed as they are now able to earn adequately to lead a comfortable life.

Mehta added that he looked forward to hearing similar stories emerging from this centre, and was extremely happy that it had plans to specially conduct women-oriented courses.