Chennai: "What is your name?"; "What do you do after school?"; "What time do you have dinner?".The conversation may not have been spontaneous, but the two young speakers were eager to show off their vocabulary onstage in front of their peers.About 300 children who participated in a summer camp funded by outsourcing and technology company, Xansa, enthusiastically tried out their newly acquired skills from spoken English classes on Saturday. It was the last session of the 20-day camp conducted for the economically backward students of four schools adopted by Xansa. The camp was conducted at each of the schools situated at Mambakkam and Sholinganallur.Associate vice president (corporate social responsibility)-India of Xansa Gayathri Mohan said the Chennai office at Siruseri had teamed up with charitable trust Aruwe to teach the children computer literacy, English speaking skills and focus on their personality development and health and hygiene.Ms. Mohan said education has been the focus of Xansa's CSR initiatives, and the company has been involved with 22 education projects across the country for years. Under these, the company sets up computer centres at school, play areas, libraries and laid emphasis on English speaking classes. One per cent of Xansa's annual profits are set aside for the CSR initiatives.
This was the first such summer camp conducted for the children during their vacation. The camp began with 500 students but the number dwindled through the vacation as children had to leave for holiday visits. Each of the children who completed the camp was given school bags (funded by employees of Xansa) and a certificate of participation.V. Natarajan, centre director and COO - Finance and Accounting BPO, said about 250 staff volunteered from the company to help with the camp. "It was not enforced. They helped out on weekends especially," he said.