THREE DYNAMIC WOMEN KEEPING AFFORDABLE LEARNING WITHIN REACH IN INDIA

Thamil Selvi, Meena, and Premalatha, three passionate educators from Madurai, India, left their jobs at another school to start Vetri Nursery and Primary School because they believed learners deserved better. With their savings, support from family members, and capacity building from Opportunity EduFinance, they have created a space where hundreds of children now receive the education they deserve.

“There were people who discouraged us, saying we would never get approval for the school. Every day we went to the local authorities' offices for a permit, worked hard, and finally, after so much effort, made it to this stage. Within 100 days, we established the ground floor and started the school,” Thamil Selvi recalls.

Their determination helped Vetri earn the trust of parents, with enrolment reaching more than 200 learners. Running the school required sharing responsibilities among the three founders. Tamilsealvi led administration, Meena supported teachers and academics, while Premalatha focused on kindergarten, discipline, and parent relationships. “This diversification gave us clarity,” Premalatha says, and it helped the school operate without confusion. But surviving the early years did not mean the school was fully prepared for the shocks that followed.

The school’s real test came after the COVID-19 pandemic. When the pandemic disrupted learning and enrolment declined, Vetri’s leaders understood they needed stronger managerial experience, which would translate into robust financial management, better parent engagement, and a stronger way to communicate the school’s value in a competitive environment. 

Joining Opportunity International’s EduQuality Program helped them respond to those gaps with guidance from an assigned Education Specialist. School management and Leadership practices, especially in how decisions are taken, how Vetri was financed, marketed, and communicated with parents, improved.

“We used to do things with little structure, but Opportunity International helped us approach everything more systematically. We learned how to plan, budget, and manage resources in an organized way.”  Thamil Selvi recalls.

Budgeting became essential for prioritizing needs and planning, while communication with parents and guardians became more intentional, as the school increasingly viewed parents as partners whose confidence had to be nurtured through consistent engagement and follow-ups.

Marketing and branding were treated as part of rebuilding confidence in the school’s future, as post-COVID made retaining learners a challenge, but Vetri was committed to investing and creating a better learning environment to give learners the comfort they deserve.