Learn & grow at home

KOCHI: Most parents are worried about nurturing the skills and interests their child possesses. Children tend to have a lot of questions and these form the basis for their development. Avasarshala, founded by Ashwathy Venugopal and her husband Sandeep relies on the curiosity of kids to raise them right.

 “Avasarshala helps parents discover the talents and interests in their kids. We connect parents to suitable platforms that help them nurture these talents, provide ample exposure and get their children noticed. Irrespective of what the interest or talent of the child is, Avasarshala provides various avenues, collated and made available at one single place. Avasarshala specifically caters to children in Classes I-XII,” said Ashwathy.

According to her, most of the high-value events are online as well. For example, the Latvian Embassy in India hosted an online essay writing competition for school children and the winners stood a chance to be invited to the embassy to operate as an ‘ambassador for a day’. “Imagine, getting such exposure at such a tender age. This might be a life-changing experience. Through Avasarshala, we have also helped many youngsters realise their potential in the personal and professional realm,” she said.

 Avasarshala collates scholarships, olympiads, arts and sports events, “Avasarshala engages with parents in Indian cities by connecting them to amazing opportunities and avenues specifically curated for their children. The list of such events is compiled keeping in mind the age, location and interests of each child and sent out every week to the parents’ through Whatsapp,” she said. 

Avasarshala is currently available in Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kozhikode, Thrissur, Kottayam, Palakkad and Alapuzha within the state, and in Bengaluru, Coimbatore and Chennai outside Kerala. Meanwhile, Avasarshala launched the Whizkids challenge to tackle the lockdown due to Covid-19. “During this lockdown, parents have the additional task of making leisure time productive for kids. Avasarshala has launched WhizKids Challenge 2020 that helps with this by developing their passion and interests,” said Ashwathy. 

The challenge is on from April 1 to 14, she added. “It is a free program that aims at engaging kids with fun activities for two weeks by making them stay away from the TV or mobile phones and sharing their work to create a virtual network of friends,” said Ashwathy.  There is a community of over 500 parents from all over India and abroad participating at WhizKids Challenge now, said Ashwathy. All entries can be seen on Facebook @avasarshalaofficial and Instagram @avasarshala.official.