School dropout Karthik Nagendran, at 14, with disciplinary problems influenced by bad hats from a toxic neighborhood in Penang, joined MySkills before completing Form Two.
Today, at 20, he acquired a three-year electrical skills certificate and saved about RM19,000 to further his electrical and electronic engineering diploma at Segi College in Penang.
MySkills not only teaches them job skills but also living skills and encourages students to cultivate saving habits. One of the essential components of living skills is salary management and savings. Not wanting to take a loan, Karthik used his savings of about RM19,000 to pay for his 1st-year tuition fees.
MykSills Foundation founder S.Pasupathi said: "MySkills Foundation provides orphans, poor and weak students skills training for about three years in electrical wiring, air condition repairs, building construction and farming. My skills also find them a job after graduation. We also teach human values and how students can save to support themselves to start a business when they graduate."
After Karthik completed his electrical certificate course, he was attached to the organic farming unit of MySkills 35-acre campus in Kalumpang.
"I learned to plant and harvest vegetables and fruits using organic fertilisers. I saved while working with a contractor and got a monthly salary of RM 1800. Part of my salary was saved under a compulsory savings scheme initiated by MySkills Foundation. Within two years of working, I saved about RM19,000," said Karthik, who is now in his first semester at Segi College.
Karthik realised his potential to soar to greater heights and plans to pursue his degree if he can get a scholarship from Segi University.
Like Karthik, there are about 40 students who have savings from RM 3000 to RM 20,000. Our student Savings Fund has exceeded RM 220,000.
While he was in Myskills, he was also exposed to cooking, and he was able to supervise meals cooked for 150 students at the Kalumpang campus.
"The Fundamentals of MySkills is Youth Transformation. There are many definitions of youth at risk, but we believe that any child who grows up in this world is at risk somehow. Our children are under more stress than ever in our fast-paced society. Those from single-parent families, dysfunctional family units, and other socio-emotional issues tend to be at a greater disadvantage of succeeding in life. However, our children have been exposed to violence, substance abuse and other negative influences at a very young age," said Pasupathi.
"Thus, youth can be at risk despite their ethnicity, gender, age or family background. Parents can raise their children right and be supportive and loving. However, they cannot prevent their teenagers from being caught up in a dangerous lifestyle and making poor choices. At MySkills, we want to reform them to serve society productively," Pasupathi told Newswav in an interview.
MySkills was privileged to be part of the Kind Malaysia exhibition when it was first introduced in the year 2018. The noble intention of this exhibition was to highlight the importance of Kindness and Serve as a conduit to facilitate meaningful partnerships between the corporate sector, civil society organisations and like-minded individuals to work together for the betterment of society.
For MySkills, it was something more than meaningful and beyond that. In 2018, a 13-year-old student was enrolled on MySkills residential-based holistic transformation program after her brother visited the Kind Malaysia exhibition and listened to a MySkills presentation.
This young lady, Svetlana, who had challenges worsened by peer influence, dropped out at a very young age. As a proud alumnus, she is managing and leading the operations of De'Divine Cafe (MySkills social enterprise). Her five years of transformation journey were full of challenging chapters but today, it's all inspiring impact milestones.
This year, MySkills was grateful to be participating once again in-Kind Malaysia Week 2023. MySkills was given a slot for the pocket talk series by the Organisers. We felt Svetlana was the right person to do the justice by sharing her growth with MySkills and inspiring the exhibitors and visitors to spread more Kindness for underserved communities.
"Many more youths are out there, longing for Kindness and Second Chance. Let us keep the faith to spread Kindness and make this world a better place to live," said Pasupathi.
Transparency International's Wiki Impact recently published a report titled 'Transparency Score of Malaysia's Foundations.' The report stated: "MySkills Foundation is one of the foundations with a high transparency score recognised."
"As we celebrate May Day, let's hope the government formulates a basic living wage and encourages the young skilled workforce to save for their future to pursue further education. At MySkills, we believe in a dynamic workforce and entrepreneurs for tomorrow," said Pasupathi.
Freelance Writer M.Krishnamoorthy (www.imkrishna.net) is a media coach, associate professor and undercover journalist. M. Krishnamoorthy is a media coach, associate professor, and journalist who worked and freelanced with Bernama, NST, The Star, and Malaysiakini. He also freelances as a fixer/coordinator for CNN, BBC, German and Australian Television networks and the New York Times. As an undercover journalist, he has highlighted society's concerns going undercover as a beggar, security guard, blind man, disabled salesman and Member of Parliament.
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